This interesting article caught our eyes recently. It’s written by Francois Badenhorst of Sift Media and is published on www.accountingweb.co.uk.
If there was any doubt left that Jamie Dimon wasn’t a fan of bitcoin, JP Morgan’s CEO laid them to rest when he spoke at a conference recently.
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The cryptocurrency, Dimon said, “doesn’t exist” and was only fit for use by criminals and people marooned in failed economies. There was even something for fans of 17th-century financial bubble references, with Dimon calling bitcoin “worse than tulip bulbs”.
This isn’t Dimon’s first attack on bitcoin. Actually, he has campaigned tirelessly against bitcoin’s perceived volatility and fraudulent nature. Dimon’s criticisms practically merit an entire genre of their own by now.
But that’s not to say he’s some sort of wild-eyed outlier. Indeed, his point of view resonates with some AccountingWEB members. Commenting on Sooraj Shah’s recent bitcoin article, member ShayaG admitted that while “bitcoin has delivered good returns to investors”, it is “too slow to confirm transactions to merit serious consideration for a day to day currency”.
“Its USP seems only to appeal to the criminally minded,” ShayaG wrote, echoing Dimon’s aspersions on bitcoin’s legitimacy.
It would seem, too, the effect of Dimon’s latest tirade proved his point about the bitcoin’s volatility. By yesterday, bitcoin’s value had dipped 10% since his speech, falling below $3,800 per bitcoin.
But according to Baroness Michelle Mone, founder of the wildly successful lingerie brand Ultimo and now a bitcoin investor, the timing of the drop is purely coincidental. In fact, she told AccountingWEB, Dimon’s past criticisms actually precipitated a rise in bitcoin’s value.
The drop, Baroness Mone explained, actually relates to the Chinese government closing down illegal bitcoin exchanges. She added: “On a lighter note, every time Mr Dimon makes a comment it seems to be a great time to purchase bitcoin. I believe that people shouldn’t throw stones in glass houses, if I recall JP Morgan suffered $20bn in fines not so long ago.”
As far as the accusations of bitcoin’s inherent criminality, she was unconvinced. “The blockchain protects users from fraud because the decentralised network confirms each transaction on the blockchain to be valid and true. This also means that no chargebacks can occur within bitcoin. Once your transaction has taken place and is confirmed, it is placed on the public ledger and can never be undone.”