JPMorgan Chase's Dimon calls Bitcoin a pet rock

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JPMorgan Chase's Dimon calls Bitcoin a pet rock

JPMorgan Chase Co. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon has been skeptical about cryptocurrencies for a long time. He denounced cryptocurrencies as a fraud and said he would fire any JPM employees who dabbling in cryptocurrencies.

Since then he has been posting a steady stream of downbeat commentary, keeping his skeptical outlook regardless of the price of the digital currency, and even as JPM explored business opportunities in the space. During the middle of last year s epic bull run, he slammedBitcoin as worthless. When asked about being the leader of the crypto-haters, Dimon showed brusqueness: I didn't want to be the spokesman for bitcoins. I don't really give a s t - that's the point, OK? So it is perhaps unsurprising that Dimon seized the opportunity to slam Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as pet rocks during an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box Tuesday morning, given recent events, while advising the American public to approach the market with a bit more trepidation. The term pet rocks was used by markets gurus to criticize gold, an asset that has struggled this year due to its lack of a yield. Dimon and others have at times repurposed the term to slambitcoin, which has been called digital gold and its peers. Dimon said that the price of bitcoins might be manipulated in some way, but we are not sure if it is a real market. He also slammed criptocurrency for allowing terrorism financing, tax avoidance, sex trafficking - why do we allow this stuff to take place? Dimon caveated in on his criticism of cryptocurrencies by saying he still believed in the benefits of Web 3.0 technology and the benefits of it. CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin, who recently interviewed disgraced former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried, elicited Dimon's comments by asking about Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's recent claim that the collapse of FTX and its associated companies was a Lehman moment. On Tuesday, the price ofBTCUSD was just below $17,000 per coin. Its price was north of $60,000 per coin in November of last year.