Jamie Dimon, the billionaire CEO of the U.S.’ largest bank JP Morgan Chase offered what he said would be his last-ever takedown of bitcoin Wednesday, maintaining his long-held attitude toward the $830 billion cryptocurrency even after last week’s breakthrough for institutional investment in bitcoin involving JPMorgan.
In what Dimon characterized as “the last time” he’d ever talk about bitcoin, he suggested that bitcoin derives the rest of its value from paper trading rather than serving a tangible purpose, but still believes investors have a right to buy bitcoin because it’s a “free country. Dimon’s still-dismissive attitude toward bitcoin notably comes a week after regulators approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the first-ever investment vehicles enabling backers to invest in real-time bitcoin prices via standard security exchanges.
“I don’t care, just please stop talking about this shit,” the billionaire Dimon responded to CNBC’s question on whether other traditional financial institutions’ issuance of the new ETFs changed his mind on bitcoin at all. Despite Dimon’s blasé reaction, JPMorgan is intimately involved with the new bitcoin fund.
JPMorgan is one of two authorized participants for BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF, meaning it facilitates capital flows in and out of the fund.
