KEY POINTS
- Dimon last month claimed cryptocurrencies should be banned as they are used by criminals
- Several spot Bitcoin ETF applicants have named JPMorgan as their authorized participant
- Bitcoin was trading in the green zone at $42,476.51 Monday morning
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is facing public scrutiny after his multinational financial services firm was named by Blackrock and Valkyrie as one of the authorized participants (AP) of their proposed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. The development piqued the interest of many in the crypto space as it implies that Dimon’s firm will assume the role of buying Bitcoin for spot ETF issuers.
Dimon was a vocal critic of cryptocurrency. Last month, he claimed they should be banned as they are used by criminals.
“I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” Dimon said at a U.S. Senate hearing in December. “The only true use case for it is criminals. If I was the government, I’d close it down.”
With several Wall Street giants naming JPMorgan as their authorized participant, Dimon’s firm will be involved in “ensuring that ETF prices are accurate, and that trading is smooth, in all market conditions,” according to BlackRock’s S-1 filing.
Commenting on JPMorgan’s agreement with Blackrock, Gabor Gurbacs, director of digital assets strategy at VanEck, said it might be high time for Dimon to retract his statement.
“3 weeks after JPMorgan CEO says Bitcoin is for criminals, drug traffickers and money launderers in front of congress, his firm is named authorized participant for the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF… perhaps it’s time to retract that statement,” Gurbacs wrote on X.
3 weeks after JP Morgan CEO says Bitcoin is for criminals, drug traffickers and money launderers in front of congress, his firm is named authorized participant for the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF… perhaps it’s time to retract that statement? https://t.co/XfZkuMgh0Z
— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) December 29, 2023
John Deaton, Crypto Law founder and a staunch Ripple advocate, criticized Dimon and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for “gaslighting” the public.
“How about that @ewarren, Jamie Dimon’s @jpmorgan is involved with #Bitcoin despite its only use case serving terrorists, drug cartels and other criminals. Or maybe you and Jamie Dimon are simply gaslighting the American public,” Dalton said in a tweet.
Mike Dudas, co-founder of the crypto venture capital firm 6th Man Ventures, also reacted to the news and said, “Jamie Dimon: the US government should ban #Bitcoin. Also Jamie Dimon: CEO of JPMorgan, the company named as an authorized participant (capital market facilitator) of BlackRock’s #Bitcoin ETF.”
Bitcoin was trading in the green zone at $42,476.51, with a 24-hour trading volume down by 6.02% at $15,669,516,659 as of 5:19 a.m. ET on Monday. The latest price action represents a 0.28% increase in its value in the past 24 hours and a 1.26% loss in the last 24 hours.
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that Bitcoin’s current circulating supply stands at 19,586,506 BTC and its market cap is at $834,585,414,984.
