Bitcoin eyes $60K after Jamie Dimon warns the asset is ‘worthless’

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned about investing in Bitcoin at the Institute of International Finance virtual event. Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi and Julie Hyman break down the details.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: We are going to focus back on Bitcoin for a moment and talk not just about the recent price action that we have seen, but of course, also some comments that came to us from Jamie Dimon yesterday. He was speaking at a monetary regulators conference, excuse me, and here's what he had to say about Bitcoin.

JAMIE DIMON: Blockchain is real, stablecoins can be real, though they're a little bit like money market funds, could be regulated. And no matter what anyone in the room thinks, no matter what any libertarian thinks, no matter what anyone thinks about it, government's going to regulate it. They're going to regulate it for AML purposes, for BSA purposes, tax purposes, security, security [INAUDIBLE]. That's a fact. Like anyone thinks that's not going to happen, just isn't [INAUDIBLE]. I personally think that Bitcoin is worthless, but I don't want to be a spokesperson for it. I don't care. It makes no difference to me. I don't think you should smoke cigarettes either.

JULIE HYMAN: I mean, he may say it's worthless, but you have to wonder if he has a little bit in an account somewhere, just a hedge, just in case it's not worthless. I mean, regardless of what he's saying, certainly his clients, many of them do not think Bitcoin is worthless, Brian Sozzi.

BRIAN SOZZI: No, clearly not, Julie. I do, just watching that, I do get the sense that Jamie Dimon is tired of getting asked about crypto. But look at this tweet we found.

JULIE HYMAN: You think?

BRIAN SOZZI: I do. I think he's had enough of this stuff. Look at this tweet though we found. And really, it may perhaps explain why he has been maybe or maybe he is just sick of getting questions on crypto. He's been talking about this since 2014. Clearly, Jamie Dimon is not a believer in Bitcoin. Now look the numbers. And I have to give a shout out to our friends at Decrypt for this one.

Since Dimon started talking publicly about Bitcoin in January of 2014 when it was trading at $808, Bitcoin prices are up 7,227%. So clearly, it appears that every time Dimon talks negatively about Bitcoin, this just gets the Bitcoin community foaming at the mouth and excited. And really perhaps might just be fueling the bull case in here.

JULIE HYMAN: I mean, the other thing I would say, you know, when he said, like I keep seeing headlines as of late, Brian, Bitcoin will not be banned by US regulators. Bitcoin will be regulated by US regulators. Like as if those are news. Like him saying that we are going to see regulation of crypto at this point, I mean, I don't, have we talked to anyone who thinks that there's not going to be any regulation of these instruments? No. I think that that's just a given at this point. The question is not whether, the question is how and when, right? So I think at this point that is just something that the crypto community does and should expect.

BRIAN SOZZI: Right, yeah, right. Every crypto person we've talked to, Julie, is all on a regulation. We'll get it in some form. But I think when Dimon was making these original comments back in 2014, 2015, 2016, the mood back then was that a JPMorgan and other institutions would not have any, any interest in getting more into the crypto universe. That has been proven completely false.

I mean, you look at some of these trading, just the trading volumes in cryptocurrency the past few months, I mean, it's clear institutions are increasingly getting involved with this. Dimon acknowledged that his clients want to have some form of exposure to cryptocurrency. Other institutions, Goldman Sachs has been kicking the tires on crypto. Fidelity, all sorts, all sorts of names are in this space here. So right now, you hear these words, really, I think they fall on deaf ears. Sure, great headline, but the numbers suggest that crypto is not worthless.

JULIE HYMAN: Right, well, yeah. I mean, obviously, if it's what his clients want, he's going to go there. He doesn't have to invest in everything that clients want to invest in.