At a time when a?strong start to 2023?has upped crypto investors' hopes for the industry¡¯s bounce back this year, the?CEO of the US¡¯ biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase,?Jamie Dimon, has bashed cryptocurrencies.??
On being asked about bitcoin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, JP Morgan's CEO told CNBC at the event?¡°Why they waste any breath discussing the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin itself is a hyped-up fraud, a pet rock.¡±
A few months ago, the US banking giant's CEO also warned about a recession hitting the US as well as the global economy in the middle of 2023.??
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The JPMorgan CEO also weighed in on the ongoing saga with bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.
CEO Dimon stated that he was not surprised to see FTX fail and declare bankruptcy, and referred to it as a Ponzi scheme.?
When asked if he thought the cryptocurrency sector as a whole was a Ponzi scheme, he said, "You guys have all seen the analysis of Tether and all these things, the lack of disclosures, it's outrageous. Regulators should have stopped this a long time ago. People have lost billions of dollars if you look at its lower-income people, in some cases retirees."??
This isn't the first time JPMorgan's CEO has bashed cryptocurrencies.?Jamie Dimon has been a vocal opponent of Bitcoin for a long time. Last year, he?compared Bitcoin to a?Ponzi scheme, like the infamous, decades-long scam run by Wall Street titan Bernie Madoff, as per a Forbes report.
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While JPMorgan¡¯s CEO does seem to be totally against?Bitcoin?and crypto in general, it¡¯s clear that as the biggest bank in the US, the company understands the need to hedge their bets.
The company is actively involved in the development of blockchain implementations into their services, and they¡¯ve even created their own proprietary token, JPM Coin. This token has a specific use case within their system, being used for intraday repurchase agreements, as the report mentioned.
Also known as repos or RP, intraday repurchase agreements are short-term loans involving financial institutions. They¡¯re used by big banks to help manage their short-term cash flow or to meet regulatory capital adequacy requirements.
And that¡¯s not all. Last year, in November, JPMorgan Chase also registered a trademark for a new cryptocurrency wallet. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted JPMorgan Chase Bank¡¯s trademark registration for ¡°J.P. Morgan Wallet¡± for use in a wide range of financial services, including virtual currency transfers and exchanges as well as crypto payment services. It had applied for it in 2020.
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