Bitcoin: ‘The Notion That It’s Good for Anybody Is Unbelievable,’ Jamie Dimon Says

Jamie Dimon hasn’t relented in his rhetoric against cryptocurrencies, calling Bitcoin and other digital tokens little more than “decentralized Ponzi schemes” in testimony before Congress.

“I’m a major skeptic on crypto tokens … like Bitcoin, ” Dimon said Wednesday, speaking at a House Financial Services Committee meeting with the leaders of other major banks. “They are decentralized Ponzi schemes, and the notion that it’s good for anybody is unbelievable.”

“It’s dangerous,” Dimon added, highlighting billions of dollars lost through hacks, theft, and fraud linked to crypto, in addition to anti-money-laundering issues and associations with sex trafficking.

The high-profile chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase (ticker: JPM) has long been a skeptic of crypto, calling Bitcoin “worthless” in October 2021 when it was trading above $56,000 and just weeks away from hitting all-time highs. The price of Bitcoin has since fallen by two-thirds amid 2022’s stock market rout, last sitting around $19,100 and declining far more dramatically than the Dow Jones Industrial Average or S&P 500 this year as investors have fled risk-sensitive assets.

The banking chief’s tone was slightly softer on stablecoins, which are digital tokens pegged to another asset, like a fiat currency, that play a foundational role in crypto market liquidity and form the basis of most trading and lending activity. Asset-backed stablecoins, like those issued by Tether, Circle, or Binance and pegged to the U.S. dollar, are supposed to be backed 1:1 by highly liquid assets like cash or Treasuries.

Barron’s reported this week on the latest version of a discussion draft from House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) and ranking member Patrick McHenry (R., N.C.) that would put these tokens under a new era of oversight. The draft bill would require most stablecoins have reserves that only include cash or cash-like securities. Dimon said he didn’t have an issue with “properly regulated” stablecoins.