{"id":15469,"date":"2017-10-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2019.dash.org\/2017\/10\/19\/we-asked-cryptocurrency-experts-to-respond-to-jamie-dimons-bitcoin-bashings-heres-what-they-said\/"},"modified":"2021-09-18T11:39:24","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T11:39:24","slug":"jamiedimon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.dash.org\/news\/jamiedimon\/","title":{"rendered":"We asked cryptocurrency experts to respond to Jamie Dimon’s bitcoin bashings \u2014 here’s what they said:"},"content":{"rendered":"
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon sparked\u00a0a conversation about bitcoin among top Wall Streeters.<\/p>\n
Since he called the digital currency \u201ca fraud\u201d in September, a slew of top Wall Streeters from BlackRock\u2019s Larry Fink to Morgan Stanley\u2019s James Gorman, have weighed in on bitcoin, which is up more than 400% year-to-date.<\/p>\n
Dimon said during JPMorgan\u2019s earnings call Thursday he\u00a0would stop talking about bitcoin.<\/a>\u00a0His vow of silence, however, ended prematurely. The very next day Dimon bashed bitcoin at a conference in Washington, D.C. He concluded his remarks by saying he was done talking about bitcoin.<\/p>\n Whether Dimon can keep his word remains to be seen, but what is certain is that his critiques of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will continue to drive conversation in both crypto- and Wall Street-circles.<\/p>\n Scores of Wall Streeters have said bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market is in a bubble.\u00a0Reuters\/Mike Blake<\/p>\n Wall Street\u00a0is full of folks who think the over $160 billion cryptocurrency market is in a bubble. Dimon\u00a0said\u00a0it is \u201cworse than the tulip bulbs,\u201d alluding to the speculative bubble of newly arrived tulips in 17th century Europe.<\/p>\n In fact, the\u00a0notion that some folks are just betting on the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not even contested among bitcoin\u2019s most fundamental followers.<\/p>\n Crypto-evangelists, however, would argue that such investors are in the minority, whereas the\u00a0majority of cryptocurrency investors are betting on the underpinning technology of their coins and tokens, rather than just looking for a quick profit.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is certainly some speculation,\u201d Ryan Taylor, a former McKinsey analyst and CEO of Dash, a top cryptocurrency. \u201cBut it\u2019s being driven by the belief that future use-cases will come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n Crypto-skeptics often rebuke the argument for future use-cases, which range from toll systems to peer-to-peer energy exchange networks, by saying they are too far off to warrant current valuations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe real world benefits are said to take years to materialize, even among evangelists,\u201d\u00a0wrote UBS, the Switzerland-based bank in a recent note<\/a>. The bank says at the end of the day people are just looking to sell at a higher price.<\/p>\n Bitcoin enthusiasts respond by\u00a0pointing to the\u00a0utility of cryptocurrency\u2019s network, which sees more than 200,000 transactions per day, as evidence of its inherent value.\u00a0Here\u2019s\u00a0Stan Miroshnik, CEO\u00a0and\u00a0managing director, Element Group:<\/p>\n \u201cThe bitcoin economy is supported by all the goods and services you can buy with bitcoin, as well as the infrastructure investments made by thousands of people to support the distributed bitcoin network. All of this has fundamental value.\u00a0I can pay in bitcoin faster, cheaper and more secure than with PayPal, this is a fundamental value.<\/strong>\u201c<\/p>\n PayPal did not respond for comment at the time of publication.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0PayPal\u2019s website<\/a>, a\u00a0bank transfer made through their platform takes approximately one business day. A bitcoin transaction typically takes under 30 minutes, although that number frequently fluctuates.<\/p>\n Dimon doubled down on his position\u00a0that governments would be a main impediment to\u00a0the future growth of bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency market on Friday, saying sovereigns will ultimately crush it once it becomes too big\u00a0of a threat to their authority. Here\u2019s Dimon (emphasis added):<\/p>\n The other thing I\u2019ve always [said] about bitcoin, governments \u2014 and this is not a technological statement \u2014 governments are going to crush it one day<\/strong>. Governments like to know where the money is, who has it and what you\u2019re doing with it, in case you haven\u2019t noticed. Right?<\/p>\n China\u2019s recent interventions into both currency- and crypto-markets best illustrates Dimon\u2019s point. The country\u2019s regulators\u00a0in September\u00a0deemed initial coin offerings<\/a>, a red-hot cryptocurrency-based fundraising method, illegal. And currently there is a\u00a0wide-spread crackdown<\/a>\u00a0on bitcoin trading underway in the country. China notably has also implemented restrictions on cross-border payments between its yuan and foreign currencies\u00a0to keep renminbi from exiting the country.<\/p>\n China is an extreme case, but numerous countries, from the\u00a0US<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0South Korea<\/a>, have ramped up efforts to impose restrictions on the wild west\u00a0of cryptocurrencies.\u00a0This isn\u2019t worrying most cryptocurrency enthusiasts.<\/p>\n Bitcoin is up more than 400% this year.\u00a0Markets Insider<\/p>\n\u2018Worse than tulip bulbs\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Governments are going to crush it one day\u2019<\/h2>\n