Bitcoin’s Usefulness Debated Again as ‘Pet Rock’ by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon

The longtime critic of cryptocurrencies and CEO of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, recently expressed his doubts about Bitcoin (BTC) in an interview with CNBC Squawk Box, comparing it to a “pet rock.” Dimon argues that Bitcoin has no practical use outside of illegal activity, even if he acknowledges the promise of blockchain technology.

Dimon declares, “Blockchain is real,” recognizing the validity of the technology. It is a technological system. We employ it. It is efficient and will transfer both money and data. But he dismisses cryptocurrencies’ importance quickly, classifying them into two groups. Dimon claims that certain cryptocurrencies have smart contracts built into them that might be useful for tokenizing assets like real estate, and then there is Bitcoin, which he refers to as the “pet rock” because to its imagined lack of utility.

Bitcoin’s Use Cases

Although Dimon acknowledges that there are applications for Bitcoin, he notes that these are mostly related to illegal activities including sex trafficking, fraud, anti-money laundering (AML), and tax evasion. “Those are real use cases,” he remarks. And you can see that it’s being utilized for that for perhaps $50 billion to $100 billion annually. The last use case is that. Other than that, they just trade with each other.”

There are challenges to Dimon’s claim. One CNBC host points out that historically, money laundering has been more closely linked to the US currency than to Bitcoin. In contrast to traditional currency, only a small portion of cryptocurrency transactions entail money laundering, according to findings from the crypto research firm Chainalysis’ 2022 study.

Notwithstanding his criticism, Dimon makes it clear that he supports people’s freedom to trade Bitcoin since he recognizes that it’s a personal decision made in a free nation. “Now, my last declaration, the last time I ever discuss Bitcoin, is that I support your freedom to use Bitcoin,” he says. It seems OK to me. I’m not here to give you instructions. I don’t want to advise anyone what to do, but my own suggestion is to stay out of it. It is a free nation.”

In response to a query concerning the recent introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by major financial institutions such as BlackRock, Dimon said very simply that he doesn’t give a damn. Thus, just please, let’s not discuss [it].”