The CEO of JPMorgan Chase bank Jamie Dimon called bitcoin “a fraud” last week and his firm Bitcoin XBT subsequently purchased Bitcoin on the dip. Because of this he may have broken European market abuse laws by shooting his mouth off talking about something he doesn’t understand and causing a flash crash according to a complaint filed to the Swedish financial regulator, Quartz reported.
The complaint was filed by Florian Schweitzer, the managing partner of a London firm called Blockswater.
The issue is an alleged link between Dimon’s comments and a large volume purchase a few days later of the Bitcoin tracker fund Bitcoin XBT. Bitcoin XBT is an exchange-traded note that’s listed on Nasdaq Nordic in Stockholm. The fund allows its clients to hold Bitcoin without worrying about how to securely store it.
However, JPMorgan denies this effort stating that it was just acting as a broker for its clients:
“They are not JPMorgan orders,” a JPMorgan spokesperson told Reuters. “These are clients purchasing third-party products directly.”
When Dimon made his inarticulate comments backed by no factual information about Bitcoin the market tanked; Bitcoin lost at least 25% between the day of his comments and the XBT trades. Another key factor of the market bloodbath we witnessed last week was China’s rumors about outright banning the cryptocurrency, after banning ICOs and exchanges, as well as more speculation the country was seeking to ban mining.
Now again today, Dimon has made further comments about Bitcoin calling the cryptocurrency “worthless” adding that there would be a government crackdown soon.
Dimon told CNBC he is concerned about a flood of cryptocurrencies – thanks to Bitcoin, Ethereum and initial coin offerings (ICOs) – and stated that believes governments will soon crack down on the market.
“Right now these crypto things are kind of a novelty. People think they’re kind of neat. But the bigger they get, the more governments are going to close them down,” Dimon said.
Speaking to the Economic Times of India, Dimon offered additional comments, this time suggesting global governments might issue cryptocurrencies.
“We already have digital currencies … you can have digital rupee, so I am not against digital currencies,” he said.
“I am talking about the creation of money and value out of thin air,” he continued. “Governments now look at it like it’s a novelty but the bigger it gets the less of a novelty it becomes.”
The markets are up so far, Bitcoin is currently trading at $3601.63 at the time of this report according to Coin Market Cap.
If found guilty JPMorgan’s CEO may be facing up to two years in jail according to Schweitzer. We here at Coinivore wonder how Dimon can explain the Federal Reserve and other central banks doing just that – “printing money out of thin air” – since no banks are backed by silver and gold anymore.
Cryptocurrency creates wealth from mining, the market speculators and the overall technology behind the coin. How about that outdated fiat?
The real problem is that cryptocurrencies put power back into the people’s hands and that with cryptocurrency decentralization we don’t need central banks or banks like JPMorgan anymore. The cryptocurrency sphere needs to stop listening to these elitists letting their comments affect cryptocurrency and just move forward with replacing them. Dimon just keeps on digging and digging his fiat grave.
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