JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon shares his personal belief 'that Bitcoin is worthless'

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said that cryptocurrencies are going to be regulated as anxiety around stablecoins and the asset class more broadly has been growing in Washington.

“Blockchain can be real, stablecoins can be real,” Dimon said at the Institute of International Finance annual membership meeting, held virtually again this year. “No matter what anyone in the room thinks, nor what any libertarian thinks, nor what anyone thinks about it, government’s going to regulate it.”

A Treasury Department-led effort to regulate stablecoins favors policing them like lenders, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month. Dimon echoed his long-held views on Bitcoin, but differentiated between his personal view and how New York-based JPMorgan will deal with it.

“I personally think that Bitcoin is worthless,” Dimon 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.”

Also in the crypto space, Citigroup Inc. Chairman John Dugan said it would be appropriate for banks to face high capital requirements for keeping cryptocurrency assets on their balance sheets. Also in the realm of cryptocurrencies, China’s Bank of Communications Co. sees the rise of sovereign digital currencies as providing a fix to defects in the traditional monetary system, President Jun Liu said.

In technology more broadly, among the biggest challenges facing companies worldwide is the competition for tech talent, which is “off the charts,” according to Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley.

The weeklong IIF gathering kicked off Monday with finance leaders including Dimon, Staley and Dugan among the speakers.