JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: “Clients Care about Bitcoin – I Do Not”

As the adoption of cryptocurrencies continues at full speed, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon remains faithful to his original argument – he has no interest in crypto.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Still Doesn’t Care about Crypto

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon once authored a Bitcoin obituary, the practice of mainstream financiers to dub the currency fraud and a non-starter back in the day. A lot has changed since that early-day hostility towards Bitcoin, as the currency is now adopted by mainstream companies, including JPMorgan, which has reconsidered its original skepticism.

Calling Bitcoin a “fraud” has not stopped the Dimon-run company from beginning to set up wealthy clients with investment options either. Nevertheless, the chief executive didn’t hesitate to share his two pence during the Tuesday WSJ CEO Council Summit when he reiterated his past sentiments.

“I don’t really care about Bitcoin. I have no interest in it. I don’t really care about Bitcoin. I have no interest in it,” Dimon said tersely, but he acknowledged that clients didn’t want personal feelings to get in the way of business.

JPMorgan clients are starting to look more actively into the asset that has been labeled “digital gold” and even serves as a wealth storage vessel for some billionaires today. The company has been working on its proprietary token technology, the JPM Coin, to help with moving investment and capital from one part of the world to another, slashing steep transmittance fees.

In the meantime, JPMorgan also approved banking accounts for Coinbase and Gemini, two of the leading crypto exchanges, with the former recently debuting as a publicly traded company. To avoid the volatility of regular cryptocurrencies, JPMorgan has made sure to attach the value of the JPM Coin to that of the US dollar, similar to USD Tether.

Even Crypto Has to Solicit the Backing of Government

Yet, Dimon’s comments weren’t intended to antagonize cryptocurrency users nor to win the chief executive points with that particular base of consumers. He was for all intents and purposes forthcoming, explaining that blockchain technology was real and used and that cryptocurrencies enjoyed backing from consumers today.

However, he cautioned that for any cryptocurrency to be fully adopted, it would sooner or later need the unequivocal approval of a central governing authority:

“People have to remember that a currency is supported by the taxing authority of a country, the rule of law, a central bank.”

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon

Discussing CBDCs, Dimon took an interesting stance, one actually maintained by US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Hester Pierce, that central currencies such as the one touted by China are actually designed to control and track consumers’ money.   

Dimon has had his own bit of to-and-fro with cryptocurrencies. He threatened to fire an employee who was trading BTC back in 2018 and said that Bitcoin was simply not a real thing. He apologized shortly after and said he regretted his actions.

Years after, Dimon is still here and ready to help clients, but there is little doubt where he stands on cryptocurrencies.