JPMorgan Will Allow Its Customers to Buy Bitcoin
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has long been a very vocal skeptic and critic of Bitcoin, but that does not mean the company is going to prevent its customers from purchasing the cryptocurrency.
At the bank’s annual investor day on Monday, Dimon announced a final decision on Bitcoin as he made it clear that the bank will allow its customers to purchase the cryptocurrency despite his own personal beliefs.
“We are going to allow you to buy it,” Dimon said on Monday via CNBC. “We’re not going to custody it. We’re going to put it in statements for clients.”
This is a big step as it's a sign of the cryptocurrency moving into mainstream investing, but Dimon is still holding true to his personal opinion of Bitcoin.
“I don’t think you should smoke, but I defend your right to smoke,” Dimon said. “I defend your right to buy bitcoin.”
Dimon has a history of disdain for the world's most popular cryptocurrency as he has publicly criticized Bitcoin for nearly half a decade.
In 2021, Dimon said that Bitcoin was “worthless.” In 2023, he told lawmakers that he has “always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc..”
He went as far as to say that “The only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance.”
“If I was the government, I’d close it down,” he added.
Given his vocal opposition to cryptocurrency, this is an especially notable step.