JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told U.S. senators in a congressional hearing that he would close down crypto if he were the government. Emphasizing that he has always been “deeply opposed” to crypto and bitcoin, the executive stressed that the true use case of crypto is criminals, drug traffickers, money laundering, and tax avoidance.
Jamie Dimon Wants to Shut Down Crypto, Bitcoin
The chief executive officer of global investment bank JPMorgan Chase shared his view about crypto and bitcoin on Wednesday during the Senate Banking Committee’s annual Wall Street oversight hearing.
Responding to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s question about why cryptocurrencies are an attractive tool for criminals, Dimon stated:
I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc. You pointed out the true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers, anti-money laundering, tax avoidance.
“That is a use case because it is somewhat anonymous, not fully, and because you can move money instantaneously because it doesn’t go through all these systems built up over many years: Know Your Customer [KYC], sanctions, OFAC [Office of Foreign Assets Control] — they can bypass all of that,” the JPMorgan boss emphasized, adding:
If I were the government, I’d close it down.
“Today’s terrorists have a new way to get around the Bank Secrecy Act — cryptocurrency,” Senator Warren claimed. “I’m not usually holding hands with the CEOs of multibillion-dollar banks, but this is a matter of national security.”
Dimon has always been skeptical about crypto and bitcoin. He previously said crypto tokens are “decentralized Ponzi schemes.” In January, he called bitcoin “a hyped-up fraud” and likened the cryptocurrency to a pet rock. He also believes that Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto could remove the cryptocurrency’s supply limit.
Responding to Dimon’s testimony, crypto proponents expressed on social media platform X that if he thinks he can shut down bitcoin, he doesn’t understand it. Many pointed out that banks and fiat money are used more heavily by criminals than crypto. Vaneck’s director of digital asset strategy, Gabor Gurbacs, commented: “Since 2000, regulators fined banks 7,400+ times totaling to fines of $380+ Billion. Banks should stay silent.” He added:
JPMorgan Chase parent company is the second most penalized financial institution with close to $40 billion in fines for 272 violations since 2000. Jamie Dimon is in no position to criticize bitcoin with this sort of track record. They should start the hearing with these stats.
Lawyer John Deaton called Dimon a hypocrite. “Who’s the criminal Jamie Dimon? Let me ask you a question: In the last 5 years when JPMorgan has been fined over thirty-five billion dollars ($35,000,000,000) for illicit and fraudulent activities, did any of your staff use bitcoin or crypto?” he asked.
Even X’s “readers added context” pointed out that people might want to know: “Less than 1% of the trillions transacted annually in crypto are illicit. The UN estimates that annually between 2% to 5% of global GDP ($800 billion – $2 trillion) is used for illicit activities and money laundering through the traditional banking system and cash.”
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