Bitcoin slammed as ‘WORTHLESS’ by JPMorgan boss as cryptocurrency price spikes

ONE OF Wall Street’s top dogs has taken aim at Bitcoin – despite the digital currency’s soaring price.

According to CNBC, JPMorgan Chase boss and outspoken crypto critic Jamie Dimon branded Bitcoin “worthless” at an event on Monday.

ReutersJamie Dimon has once again taken aim at Bitcoin[/caption]

The investment banking behemoth told a virtual audience over video call that he saw no future for the fledging crypto market.

“I personally think that bitcoin is worthless,” Dimon said during the Institute of International Finance event.

The 65-year-old added that, while he was sceptical of cryptocurrencies, JPMorgan clients were still free to invest in them.

“I don’t want to be a spokesperson – I don’t care. It makes no difference to me,” he said.

“Our clients are adults. They disagree. That’s what makes markets.

“So, if they want to have access to buy yourself bitcoin, we can’t custody it but we can give them legitimate, as clean as possible, access.”

Bitcoin is currently going through a golden period after a tough spring. The cryptocurrency’s value peaked at £47,000 in April before a sharp decline.

However, it has been steadily climbing ever since, currently sitting around the £41,000 mark – close to an all-time high.

Dimon has taken jabs at cryptocurrencies in the past.

Recently, he told Axios CEO Jim VandeHei that bitcoin has “no intrinsic value.”

And while he thinks bitcoin will be around long term, “I’ve always believed it’ll be made illegal someplace, like China made it illegal, so I think it’s a little bit of fool’s gold.”

Dimon also told VandeHei that he thinks “regulators are going to regulate the hell out of it.”

It’s been a rocky few weeks for Bitcoin.

Last week, the Biden administration unveiled sanctions against a cryptocurrency exchange over its alleged role in enabling illegal payments from ransomware attacks.

The Treasury Department accused Suex of facilitating transactions involving illicit proceeds for at least eight ransomware variants.

It’s the first such move against a virtual currency exchange over ransomware activity.

“Exchanges like Suex are critical to attackers’ ability to extract profits from ransomware attackers,” Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.

The action “is a signal of our intention to expose and disrupt the illicit infrastructure using these attacks.”

It came after President Biden announced that the U.S. will bring together 30 countries to stop “the illicit use of cryptocurrency.”

He’s not the only US president to criticise the currency.

Earlier this year, former president Donald Trump called Bitcoin a “scam against the dollar.”

Speaking to Fox Business in June, he expressed concerns that the cryptocurrency is threatening the value of the US dollar.

“Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam,” Mr Trump said. “I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar.”

ReutersIt’s been a rough few months for the cryptocurrency[/caption]

In other news, President Joe Biden is weighing up appointing a cryptocurrency despot to handle Bitcoin and its rivals.

Crypto investors were sent into panic last month after a data provider showed a 90 per cent plunge in Bitcoin’s value.

The price of Bitcoin rocketed in July following claims Amazon could start accepting the cryptocurrency as payment by the end of the year.

And, nine apps have had to be removed from the Google Play Store after they were caught stealing Facebook passwords.

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