We all know JP Morgan CEO – Jamie Dimon for his famous criticism on Bitcoin last year, following which, the price of the cryptocurrency surged to an all-time high above $20000 at the end of 2017. During one of his conference events in September 2017, Jamie Dimon has thrown some harsh words on Bitcoin as well as its investors.
Dimon at that time said that Bitcoin is nothing but a “fraud” which is “worse than tulip bulbs”, and people investing in it are “stupid”. He also went out further saying that “If you’re stupid enough to buy it, you’ll pay the price for it one day.”
However, having seen Bitcoins tremendous growth post his criticizing comments, Dimon has changed his stand. During a recent interview with Fox Business this Tuesday, Dimon said that he regrets making such a statement of calling Bitcoin a “fraud”. However, he continued saying that he is still not a fan of cryptocurrencies and is absolutely “not interested that much in the subject at all.”
While drawing parallels between his understanding about cryptocurrencies and governments relationship with cryptos, Dimon stated “The bitcoin to me was always what the governments are gonna feel about bitcoin as it gets really big, and I just have a different opinion than other people. I’m not interested that much in the subject at all.”
Two years back in 2015, while commenting on the subject of cryptocurrencies, Dimon said that eventually they would be controlled by the governments. Further talking about the possibility of a decentralized “shadow economy” of cryptocurrencies, Dimon said: “It’s just not gonna happen, you’re wasting your time. This is my personal opinion. There will be no real non-controlled currency in the world. There’s no government that’s gonna put up with it for long.”
However, Dimon during the recent interview with Fox Business seemed quite positive and optimistic about the potential of Bitcoin’s underlying ‘blockchain technology’. He said: “The blockchain is real. You can have cryptodollars in yen and stuff like that. ICOs … you got to look at every one individually.”
The blockchain technology is a completely decentralized distributed ledger which can record and store transactions done between two parties without the need for third-party intermediary. The blockchain store completely verifiable and permanent records on its network.
With just two parties being involved in the transaction- the buyer and receiver, it makes the transactions faster. Blockchain’s ability to transfer funds across the globe in just a few minutes or even seconds has grabbed the attention of a majority of the financial banking institutions across the globe. A growing number of banks are seen testing the blockchain technology and increasing its exposure towards it.