Jamie Dimon still doesn’t like bitcoin

JP Morgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon doubled down in a Bloomberg interview against bitcoin reiterating an earlier stance against cryptocurrencies deeming them a ‘scam’.

JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon still doesn’t like bitcoin

In Dimon’s interview with Bloomberg on Sunday, he changed his mind after a more recent interview in the latest issue of Harvard Business Review, where after suggesting that he probably shouldn’t say any more about cryptocurrency, he promptly did.

Dimon was quoted saying: “But it’s [cryptocurrency] not the same as gold or fiat currencies. Those are supported by law, police, courts. They’re not replicable, and there are strictures on them.”

However, Dimon adds, “Blockchain, on the other hand, is real. We’re testing it and will use it for a whole lot of things.”

Familiar territory?

The veteran banker has traversed this terrain before when at a Delivering Alpha investor conference in September 2017, back then in addition to calling bitcoin a fraud, he said, “It’s worse than tulip bulbs. It won’t end well. Someone is going to get killed.”

He also threatened to fire any employee he founds trading bitcoin for being ‘stupid.’ “I’d fire them in a second. For two reasons: It’s against our rules, and they’re stupid. And both are dangerous.” Bitcoin’s price took a hit following his comments.

However, since then the banking industry has been more welcoming of cryptocurrencies with institutional interest from players such as Goldman Sachs and BlackRock in recent weeks expressing interest.

Bitcoin fell on Monday below $7,000 for the first time in three weeks.