Anand Sinha
2 min read
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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that the asset management firm will allow its clients to purchase Bitcoin. The firm will, however, not custody the cryptocurrency, he added.
"I am not a fan" of Bitcoin, the billionaire CEO clarified. He was addressing the company's Investor Day on May 19 when he made these remarks.
With a market cap of $740 billion, JPMorgan Chase is the world's largest bank that has more than $4 trillion in assets under management.
Dimon's concession to the cryptocurrency is noteworthy, given his earlier characterization of Bitcoin as "fraud" in September 2017.
In fact, Dimon told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during a Senate Banking hearing on Dec. 6, 2023, "I've always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc... You pointed out the only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers, money launderers, tax avoidance . . . If I was the government, I'd close it down."
As per Kraken, Bitcoin was trading at $103,365 at press time.
Regarding the blockchain technology that forms the infrastructure of the crypto economy, Dimon said it doesn't matter as much as you think.
Note that the Wall Street giant only recently settled its first transaction on a public blockchain on May 14. The settlement involved tokenized U.S. Treasuries.
Dimon claimed that geopolitical risk is very high and the tariff rates, even if lowered, are still "pretty extreme." On May 12, the U.S. and China lowered tariffs on each other for a temporary period of 90 days as they negotiate further.
The CEO also shared his views on the U.S. economy during the talk and said he wouldn't take stagflation off the table. Stagflation in an economy refers to persistent high inflation in tandem with high unemployment and stagnant demand.
