J.P.
Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon said he regretted calling bitcoin a “fraud.”.
“The blockchain is real. You can have crypto yen and dollars and stuff like that,” Dimon said at the New York Times DealBook conference on Wednesday. ” ICOs . you got to look at every one individually.
Dimon’s original comments on bitcoin, made at a banking industry conference in September, caused a stir in the digital currency world. He called bitcoin a “fraud” and said he would fire any employee trading it for being “stupid.”
“It’s just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed,” Dimon said at the time.
JP Morgan recently made statements about Bitcoin that should not be taken as financial advice. The statements were made from JP Morgan’s perspective and do not necessarily reflect the views of the general public or any other financial institution. Investing in cryptocurrencies can be very volatile and highly risky. Please do your own research before deciding to invest in cryptocurrencies.
On Wednesday, Dimon acknowledged that he may have been too hasty in his criticism of bitcoin.
“I regret making them,” he said of his earlier comments.
Dimon’s change of heart comes as the price of bitcoin has surged to new highs in recent weeks, topping $11,000 on Wednesday. The digital currency has gained more mainstream attention as it becomes more widely accepted by businesses and investors.
Despite his about-face on bitcoin, Dimon still isn’t ready to fully embrace the digital currency. He said he doesn’t like the way it trades and that it’s used by criminals.
But he conceded that blockchain technology underlying bitcoin is here to stay.