CEO Jamie Dimon lashed out at bitcoin and its peers, suggesting in remarks Wednesday on Capitol Hill that cryptocurrencies should be banned.
“I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” Jamie Dimon said under questioning from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., during a Senate Banking Committee hearing. “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,” the head of the largest U.S. bank by assets added.
The remarks are the latest broadside from Dimon against cryptocurrencies, though his bank is heavily involved in blockchain, the enabling technology for the $1.6 trillion industry.
In previous statements, Dimon has called bitcoin “a hyped-up fraud,” a comment he later walked back. He had also likened it to a “pet rock.”
Jamie Dimon’s recent condemnation of the virtual currency sector follows a string of scandals within the industry. U.S. regulatory agencies have initiated a cleansing operation and intensified oversight in the cryptocurrency realm since the downfall of the FTV crypto exchange established by Sam Bankman-Fried.
During this hearing, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren aligned with Republican legislators and banking executives to scrutinize the virtual currency industry
“Today’s terrorists have a new way to evade the Bank Secrecy Act. It’s called virtual currency,” said Senator Warren.
Jamie Dimon and other top executives from major U.S. banks, including Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan, state that they have implemented security measures to thwart terrorists and other criminals from using banks for nefarious purposes. Senator Warren contends that the banks’ assurances run counter to the cryptocurrency market and suggests that the anti-money laundering regulations banks adhere to should be expanded to cover digital assets. All the bank CEOs are in unanimous agreement with the senator’s viewpoint.
“Not always do I agree with the CEOs of major banks, but this is a national security issue”, emphasized Senator Warren. Previously, she had underscored the need for implementing monitoring measures and expressed concerns about the relationship between major banks and the cryptocurrency industry.
“I’ve always been strongly opposed to virtual currency, such as bitcoin”, stated Mr. Dimon, asserting that the true purpose of virtual currency is to support criminal activities, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and tax evasion. He believes this is because owning digital currency fundamentally occurs in an anonymous manner and does not rely on the traditionally tightly regulated financial system.
Despite facing considerable criticism and heightened regulatory scrutiny, the values of virtual currencies have experienced significant growth this year. Bitcoin’s price has surged by around 170% since the start of the year, reaching nearly $45,000 in a trading session on December 6.
The transaction volume of virtual currencies on the Robinhood platform has seen an increase of almost 75% in November, and there are several forecasts indicating that the price of bitcoin could reach six digits in 2024. This is attributed to the potential approval of a bitcoin ETF for immediate trading by U.S. authorities and the impact of bitcoin’s “halving” event.
By. Pham Thanh Bien
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