Bitcoin Is a ‘Fraud’ Says Jamie Dimon, Who Vowed to Not Talk About It Again

Jamie Dimon has but extra to say about Bitcoin—albeit issues he’s identified for saying earlier than. In an in-depth interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, the JP Morgan CEO reiterated his stance that Bitcoin is “a fraud.”

“In the event you imply crypto like Bitcoin, I’ve at all times mentioned it’s a fraud,” Dimon instructed Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, including that there is no such thing as a hope for it as a forex.

He additionally known as Bitcoin a “public decentralized Ponzi scheme,” however conceded that blockchain and sensible contracts have worth.

“If it is a crypto coin that may do one thing like a sensible contract that has worth, there shall be sensible contracts and blockchain works,” Dimon mentioned. “To the extent crypto is accessing sure blockchain issues, which may have some worth.”

Crypto Twitter reliably took a break from watching the Bitcoin halving countdown clock to poke enjoyable on the CEO.

“Buddy is fudding our baggage for a greater entry,” Wallstreetbets mentioned on Twitter.

“The Matrix likes to ship alerts to purchase extra Bitcoin,” Bitcoin Munger mentioned. “That is a kind of alerts.”

Whereas Dimon might even see worth in sensible contracts and blockchain, the long-time critic of Bitcoin has mentioned the one use circumstances for the digital forex are for “intercourse trafficking, tax avoidance, anti-money laundering, [and] terrorism financing.”

Dimon has mentioned that if the “dangerous use circumstances” can’t be solved, regulators should “shut it down.” That might be a tall order, contemplating there are over 20,000 Bitcoin nodes at present on-line.

After years of discussing the primary digital asset by market capitalization, Dimon swore not to talk about Bitcoin once more throughout an interview with CNBC on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, in January.

“That is the final time I am ever speaking about this on CNBC, so assist me God,” Dimon proclaimed.

The manager’s fixed reproach of Bitcoin does stand in distinction to funding strikes by his personal agency. JP Morgan is an “approved participant” in spot Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Invesco/Galaxy Digital, and Constancy, which the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee authorized earlier this yr.

In a December report, nevertheless, a JP Morgan analyst expressed skepticism concerning the long-term impact of Bitcoin ETFs available on the market and mentioned Ethereum is poised to outperform Bitcoin in 2024.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.