JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, a long-time Bitcoin skeptic, roars again at the World Economic Forum, calling Bitcoin his “pet rock.” In the CNBC Squawk Box interview in Davos, Switzerland, Dimon argues that BTC has no real use other than illegal purposes.
But Dimon agrees that blockchain technology is important.
“Blockchain is real. It's a technology. We are using. It will speed up the flow of money and data, efficiently. We've been discussing this for 12 years and it's still a very small area. Maybe we talked too much about this. There are two separate categories of cryptocurrencies. There are cryptocurrencies that may have a real function. Imagine a cryptocurrency built into a smart contract, we can use it to buy and sell real estate or transfer data, that could make sense.
It's like symbolizing something you've done. Then there are those who are useless. I call it pet rock, Bitcoin or similar. I'm not kidding about Bitcoin, it has uses: money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, prostitution trade. These are real usage areas. We see that perhaps 50 to 100 billion dollars are used for this purpose annually. This is its main usage area. Everything else is just buying and selling between people.”
Bigger Money Laundering Tool Than Bitcoin: US Dollar
The CNBC host reminds us that the US dollar has been used for much more money laundering throughout its history than Bitcoin. Crypto research firm Chainalysis found in 2022 that 5% of global gross domestic product is laundered with fiat money each year, but only 0.05% of all cryptocurrency transactions are related to money laundering.
Dimon says he doesn't want to talk about Bitcoin again and believes people have the right to trade in the digital asset, despite his repeated criticism.
“I say my last words about Bitcoin, this is the end. I defend your rights. I think it's okay. I don't want to tell you what to do. My personal advice is don't get involved, but I don't want to tell anyone what to do. “This is a free country.”
Additionally, when asked what he thinks about BlackRock and other major financial institutions recently launching spot BTC ETFs, he said, “I don't care. Please stop talking about it,” he replied.
