JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says bitcoin is ‘Worthless’

Dimon is a well-known critic of cryptocurrency, previously telling people he thinks they should ‘stay away from it’

JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said last night at a conference by the Institute of International Finance that cryptocurrencies will be regulated by governments.

Dimon told listeners: I personally think that bitcoin is worthless.

No matter what anyone thinks about it, government is going to regulate it. They are going to regulate it for anti-money laundering purposes, for Bank Secrecy Act purposes, for tax, the JP Morgan chief continued, referencing the expanding involvement of regulators in the crypto space.

Dimon is a well-known critic of cryptocurrency, previously telling people he thinks they should “stay away from it.”

Despite Dimon’s hesitancy JP Morgan’s wealth management division started offering exposure to crypto currencies earlier this year. In October 2020 the firm created a new unit for blockchain projects.

I don’t think you should smoke cigarettes either, Dimon said. Our clients are adults. They disagree. That’s what makes markets. So if they want to have access to buy or sell bitcoin – we can’t custody it – but we can give them legitimate as clean as possible access.

JPMorgan started giving its wealth-management clients access to crypto funds in July.

It comes after Dimon told VandeHei that he thinks regulators are going to regulate the hell out of it, rendering Bitcoin unusable.

Dimon even called Bitcoin a fraud back in 2017, three months before the price of Bitcoin shot up to $20k for the first time.

As yet unaffected by Dimon’s comments Bitcoin’s price has climbed 1.4 per cent in the past 24 hours to $57.2k. Price remains 12 per cent below the crypto’s all time high of $64.8k reached earlier this year.

The crypto community on Twitter highlighted bitcoin’s latest bullish levels against Dimon’s past comments.