J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimon recently reiterated his position that bitcoin was «worthless» – a comment that was paralleled by the growing wave of banking chiefs expressing optimism or, at least, reserving judgment.
J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon is once again publicly expressing his anti-bitcoin views, this time challenging the cryptocurrency’s supply cap – a key characteristic for value retention, as opposed to the unlimited printing of fiat currencies.
«I personally think that bitcoin is worthless,» said J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon during an event hosted earlier this month by the Institute for International Finance (IIF).
«[H]ow do you know it ends at 21 million? You all read the algorithms? You guys all believe that? I don't know, I've always been a skeptic of stuff like that.»
Not a Prophet
Dimon's latest comments are part of his longstanding history of publicly bashing bitcoin and making bearish predictions, many of which have become incorrect.
In 2015, he said «no government will ever support a virtual currency that goes around borders and doesn't have the same controls». Today, a myriad of cryptocurrencies are now allowed to act as instruments for investment or payments in various markets including large, mature economies like Japan or smaller, developing ones like El Salvador.
Dimon has even failed to predict his own behavior on the matter after claiming in 2017 that he was «not going to talk about bitcoin anymore».
Agnostic Business
Although Dimon has stated that he believes bitcoin is not only «worthless» but also a «fraud» that is «worse than tulip bulbs», once adding that he would fire any employee trading the cryptocurrency for being «stupid», the J.P. Morgan business has not reflected these views.
In July this year, the bank opened access to a handful of crypto funds for its wealth management clients.
«I don’t want to be a spokesperson — I don’t care. It makes no difference to me,» Dimon said at the IIF event. «Our clients are adults. They disagree. That’s what makes markets. So, if they want to have access to buy yourself bitcoin, we can’t custody it but we can give them legitimate, as clean as possible, access.»
More Optimistic Peers
Meanwhile, fellow chiefs of global banks have expressed more optimism on cryptocurrencies this month – or, at the very least, reserved judgment.
Last week, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin «aren’t going away» and Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters echoed the view, adding that he thought there was «a role for non-fiat currencies, especially when parts of the market are concerned about inflation».
Also in the same week, Citi CEO Jane Fraser and HSBC CEO Noel Quinn expressed more conservative views with the former claiming to approach crypto with «great caution» and the latter saying he was also wary but «keen on being part of the journey» of digital currencies.
After suffering a multi-month slump, bitcoin has rebounded to nearly $62,000 as of publishing, nearing 2021’s peak of over $63,000 in April.
