World’s Largest Bank CEO Rejects Crypto

The world’s largest bank CEO rejects crypto, and Senator Elizabeth Warren lamented about cryptocurrencies during a recent oversight hearing on Wall Street.

She once deferred the question to Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the world, in an almost choreographed fashion, asking him to “explain why crypto is such an attractive financial instrument for terrorists, drug traffickers, and rogue nations.”

It is challenging to conceive of a more laden inquiry.

As he joyfully grabbed the pass, Mr. Dimon exclaimed:

I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, Bitcoin, etc. You pointed out the only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers, anti-money laundering [sic], tax avoidance… because it doesn’t go through, as you mentioned, all these systems built up over many years — Know Your Customer, sanctions, OFAC [Office of Foreign Assets Control] — they can bypass all of that.

Monsieur Dimon and Ms. Warren have demonstrated an astounding degree of utter and total ignorance.

One of the most tropical and naïve cliches concerning cryptocurrencies is the belief that it is advantageous for criminals. For money laundering, extortion, and conducting transactions, criminals can (and do) utilize virtually ANYTHING.

Elegant art. Cards of baseball. Food vouchers issued by the government. Unusual currencies. Gift cards for Amazon. IPas and other well-known consumer goods. A wager on sports. Reloadable credit cards. The American banking infrastructure as well.

Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin ensures that all transactions are publicly documented on the blockchain, enabling governmental bodies to monitor the flow of funds.

Criminals would be far better off utilizing JPMorgan Chase for their illicit dealings.

For this reason, Bernie Madoff, the perpetrator of one of the most infamous Ponzi schemes in history, may have selected JPMorgan Chase as his preferred financial institution. In connection with Madoff’s fraud, JPMorgan Chase enabled decades of dubious operations.

Nevertheless, the bank’s illicit activities go far beyond that. Either way, the world’s largest bank CEO rejects crypto.

JPMorgan Chase acquiesced to a $920 million criminal sanction in 2020 for market manipulation, which involved the placement and subsequent cancellation before executing tens of thousands of fraudulent orders in the precious metals and bond futures markets.

Furthermore, investigative reporters unearthed in “the FinCEN files” that JP Morgan “transacted funds for individuals and organizations involved in the heinous misappropriation of public funds in Malaysia, Venezuela, and Ukraine.”

Between 1999 and 2017, JP Morgan potentially exposed a sum exceeding 0.5 trillion dollars in money laundering activities.

Moreover, analogous transgressions are prevalent throughout the banking sector.

As an illustration, Wells Fargo’s rap sheet comprises the following: falsifying customer signatures to facilitate account openings to exceed sales targets; selling unnecessary auto insurance that resulted in the repossession of over 20,000 vehicles; a “software glitch” that caused more than 500 erroneous foreclosures of residences; overcharging 26 times on foreign currency transactions; unlawfully seizing vehicles belonging to military personnel; and the actual sale of Social Security Numbers of customers to identity thieves.

It is noteworthy that Jamie Dimon served as the “personal financier” of Adam Neumann, the founder of WeWork renowned for his egregious lack of ethics.

Bear in mind that Adam Neumann obtained a loan from his organization to purchase office space, which he subsequently leased back to the company for a profit, thereby bankrupting the shareholders.

Furthermore, he altered WeWork’s name to We and sold his corporation the rights to the word We for $6 million.

JPMorgan Chase served as WeWork’s primary IPO advisor when the company attempted to go public but surrendered its $100 million stake just before the IPO’s demise.

Jamie Dimon participated in the entirety of this. Regarding cryptocurrencies, he now wishes to claim the moral high ground.

Are criminals crypto users? Undoubtedly, certain criminals employ cryptocurrency. In addition to utilizing iPhones, some thieves fly Delta Airlines. Additionally, some criminals maintain JPMorgan Chase accounts.

Yet Dimon and Warren single out cryptocurrencies, asserting erroneously that their “only” use case is criminal activity.

It is improbable that they have ever taken the time to peruse the initial white paper, which unequivocally articulated Bitcoin’s purpose as a medium of exchange for digital transactions—a universal currency of the Internet.

However, as time has passed, Bitcoin has evolved into a more speculative instrument—possibly its most significant use case to date—considerable numbers of individuals purchase Bitcoin with the expectation that its value will increase. They may also utilize it as a long-term value store.

The tokenization of financial contracts, which eliminates middlemen financiers like Jamie Dimon, is another significant application of cryptocurrencies. It is therefore unsurprising that Mr. Dimon despises cryptocurrencies.

“If I were the government, I would shut it down,” he said during that hearing, which was arguably the most absurd statement he made.

It appears that he believes that a prohibition on cryptocurrencies by the government would promptly eliminate any demand for them.

Because it was so effective during periods such as alcohol prohibition, the never-ending war on drugs, and the prohibition of illicit movie downloads from the Internet.

Cryptocurrency would be even more difficult to regulate if the world’s largest bank CEO rejects crypto.

A decentralized, peer-to-peer currency, cryptocurrency can traverse international borders in a matter of seconds. Not a flaw, but a feature, is the fact that governments cannot control it.

That implies a future in which individuals who oppose Justin Trudeau’s vaccine mandates cannot be de-banked. It entails maintaining sole possession of one’s funds, rather than relying on intermediaries such as JPMorgan Chase, which behaves criminally when not preoccupied with criminal activity.

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Presumably, an astute business executive and banker, Jamie Dimon is a person of sophistication. However, his discourse is replete with cynicism and undermines integrity… and he is completely unaware of it.

Significant components of cryptocurrencies are so obviously here to stay that not even the Federal Reserve is experimenting with them.

Therefore, Jamie Dimon’s command to “close it down” resembles an individual yelling at windmills. Even worse would be a medieval Ottoman autocrat who, concerned with scarcity, outlawed the printing press.

Observe the consequences should Bitcoin continue to rise; I have a hunch that JP Morgan will eventually resume advising their private clients to purchase cryptocurrencies… and Dimon will behave as if he had always known it. Peace and happy holidays.