Investing.com - Almost four months after calling bitcoin a “fraud”, JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon backstepped on Tuesday and admitted “regretting” that call.
At a banking conference in September, Dimon condemned the cryptocurrency, calling it a “fraud” and something that murderers and drug dealers would use.
“If we had a trader who traded bitcoin I’d fire him in a second for two reasons,” he stated at the conference in New York.
“One, it’s against our rules. Two, it’s stupid,” he proclaimed.
“It’s a fraud and honestly I’m just shocked anyone can’t see it for what it is,” Dimon added.
However, Dimon appeared to soften his attack in an interview with FOX Business when referencing those earlier comments.
“I regret making them,” he admitted.
Dimon did say that he was “not interested in the subject at all”, but admitted that blockchain technology, the ledger system that keeps track of cryptocurrencies, was “real”.
However, he did warn that initial coin offerings (ICOs) should be reviewed individually.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $259.16 billion, soared more than 1,300% in 2017 and has gained 256% since the Dimon’s September comments.
Bitcoin was last down 3.83%, or $587.00, on the Bitfinex exchange to trade at $14,7588.00 by 7:27AM ET (12:27GMT) Tuesday, even as its second place rival Ethereum rallied to fresh record highs.