JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has reaffirmed his stance on bitcoin while acknowledging that his bank’s clients are interested in the cryptocurrency. “I don’t tell clients what to do,” he said while emphasizing that he does not care about bitcoin.
Jamie Dimon Has No Interest in Bitcoin but His Clients Do
Jamie Dimon talked about bitcoin during The Wall Street Journal CEO Council summit on Tuesday. Reaffirming his stance on the cryptocurrency, the JPMorgan boss elaborated:
I am not a bitcoin supporter. I don’t really care about bitcoin … I have no interest in it.
He noted that he expects his bitcoin comments to draw attention. “I know I’m going to get tons of emails after this,” he said. Back in September 2017, Dimon called bitcoin a fraud.
While the JPMorgan CEO may not support bitcoin, his bank is starting to provide some products that are related to cryptocurrencies. In March, JPMorgan launched a crypto investment product tracking public company stocks with bitcoin exposure. The bank is rumored to soon provide clients access to bitcoin investments.
Dimon admitted that JPMorgan’s clients are interested in bitcoin, stating:
On the other hand, clients are interested and I don’t tell clients what to do … They want to be able to put it on statements, they want to be able to buy and sell it.
“If we can help them do those things very, very safely with all the proper disclosures then, you know … it’s not my job to decide what they’re going to do with their money,” the JPMorgan CEO affirmed. A growing number of corporations are putting bitcoin on their balance sheets, such as Microstrategy, Tesla, and Square.
Daniel Pinto, JPMorgan’s co-president, explained in February that he is certain the demand for bitcoin “will be [there] at some point.” The executive added that “If over time an asset class develops that is going to be used by different asset managers and investors, we will have to be involved.”
Meanwhile, Dimon is pro-blockchain. “Blockchain is real. We use it,” the CEO shared. “But people have to remember that a currency is supported by the taxing authority of a country, the rule of law, a central bank.”
JPMorgan recently highlighted three reasons for investing in bitcoin after its analysts predicted that the price of the cryptocurrency could reach $146K as its competition with gold heats up. The firm subsequently lowered its bitcoin price estimate to $130K but said that clients can put 1% of their portfolios in BTC. In April, Dimon said that cryptocurrencies are emerging issues that need to be dealt with quickly.
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