Today, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon reiterated his personal disapproval of Bitcoin during the bank’s annual Investor Day event. Despite the bank’s decision to provide clients with access to Bitcoin investments, Dimon emphasized his personal disapproval of Bitcoin.
“I am not a fan” of Bitcoin, stated Dimon.
JPMorgan is going to allow clients to buy Bitcoin, but the bank won’t custody it, according to Bloomberg. Dimon made clear that while JPMorgan will provide clients access to Bitcoin investments, the bank will not hold or manage the digital asset directly.
In a January 2025 interview with CBS News, Dimon expressed continued skepticism toward Bitcoin. “Bitcoin itself has no intrinsic value. It’s used heavily by sex traffickers, money launderers, ransomware,” said Dimon.
Although he acknowledged, “We are going to have some kind of digital currency at some point,” he added, “I just don’t feel great about bitcoin. I applaud your ability to wanna buy or sell it. Just like I think you have the right to smoke, but I don’t think you should smoke.”
These comments from Dimon contrast with recent optimism from JPMorgan analysts regarding Bitcoin’s market prospects. JPMorgan analysts reported that Bitcoin is likely to continue gaining ground at gold’s expense in the second half of the year, driven by rising corporate demand and growing support from U.S. states.
“Between mid-February and mid-April gold was rising at the expense of bitcoin, while of the past three weeks we have been observing the opposite, i.e. bitcoin rising at the expense of gold,” said JPMorgan analysts. “In all, we expect the YTD zero sum game between gold and bitcoin to extend to the remainder of the year, but are biased towards crypto-specific catalysts creating more upside for bitcoin over gold into the second half of the year.”
Since April 22, gold has dropped nearly 8%, while Bitcoin has surged 18%, reflecting a notable shift in investor sentiment. Capital has been moving out of gold ETFs and into Bitcoin. Several U.S. states are also warming to Bitcoin—New Hampshire now permits up to 5% of its reserves in Bitcoin, while Arizona is launching a Bitcoin reserve and has pledged not to raise taxes this year. At the corporate level, companies like Strategy and Metaplanet are expanding their Bitcoin holdings.
“As the list grows, with other U.S. states potentially considering adding bitcoin to their strategic reserves, this could turn out to be a more sustained positive catalyst for bitcoin,” said the analysts.
