Longtime crypto skeptic JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon is once again slamming Bitcoin (BTC) as a “pet rock.”
In a new interview on CNBC Squawk Box from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Dimon argues that there are no real use cases for Bitcoin other than for illicit purposes.
However, Dimon does say there is merit to blockchain technology.
“Blockchain is real. It’s a technology. We use it. It’s going to move money, it’s going to move data, it’s efficient. We’ve been talking about that for 12 years too and it’s very small. Okay, so I think we’ve wasted too many words on that. Cryptocurrencies, there are two types. There’s a cryptocurrency that might actually do something. Think of a cryptocurrency that has an embedded smart contract in it and then we can use it to buy and sell real estate and move data, that may have value – tokenizing things that you do something with.
And then there’s one which does nothing. I call it the pet rock, the Bitcoin or something like that. And so on the Bitcoin, I’m not trying to make a joke here, there are use cases: AML (anti-money laundering) fraud, tax avoidance, sex trafficking. Those are real use cases. And you see it being used for maybe $50 billion to $100 billion a year for that. That is the end use case. Everything else is people trade among themselves.”
A CNBC host points out that the US dollar has historically been predominately used for money laundering, not Bitcoin. In 2022, the crypto research firm Chainalysis determined that while 5% of the global gross domestic product is laundered every year in fiat currency, just 0.05% of all crypto transactions involve money laundering.
Dimon says he does not want to discuss Bitcoin again and that, despite his repeated criticism, he believes people should have to right to trade the digital asset.
“Now my last statement, the last time I ever talk about Bitcoin, is I defend your right to do Bitcoin. I think it’s okay. I don’t want to tell you what to do. So my personal advice is don’t get involved, but I don’t want to tell anybody what to do. It’s a free country.”
He was also asked what he thinks of BlackRock and other large financial entities recently launching spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
“I don’t care. So just please stop talking about [it].”
Bitcoin is trading for $42,388 at time of writing, down nearly 2% in the last 24 hours.
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