JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Trashes Bitcoin as Fraud

The CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, is the latest high profile personality to take a potshot at Bitcoin, saying that it is a fraud and will blow up eventually. He compared the craze to the tulip mania which rocked Holland in the 17th century when speculators pushed up the prices of virtually worthless tulips only to see it crash. He was speaking at an investor conference in New York on Tuesday.

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The price of Bitcoin has shot higher this year, moving close to the $5000 levels in August from below $1000 at the beginning of the year. The price was driven higher by speculation on the usability of Bitcoin for cross border payments without the burden of legacy processes and systems, and the usage potential of the underlying blockchain technology.

Though some regulators have got around to the idea of embracing the technology and are looking for ways to regulate the flow and the industry as a whole, some regulators have not taken such a kind view.

Dimon said that regulators and governments like to have control over the financial flows within and outside their respective jurisdictions and hence they are unlikely to have a favourable view of cryptocueency. This was evident last week when Chinese regulators banned all ICOs and issued a warning to citizens not to invest in them.

Though Dimon did say that his daughter sought to make the most of the craze by buying some bitcoins, he said that he would fire any trader in his company that did the same as it was against the rules and he feels that it is stupid.

He said: “If you were in Venezuela or Ecuador or North Korea or a bunch of parts like that, or if you were a drug dealer, a murderer, stuff like that, you are better off doing it in bitcoin than U.S. dollars. So there may be a market for that, but it’d be a limited market.”

The price of Bitcoin fell by 3 percent after his comments and the fall continues to gather steam. It fell by over 20 percent last week on the news of the Chinese ban.