JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he will not talk about bitcoin anymore after he trashed it again.
Dimon, a long-time bitcoin critic, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" from Davos that the virtual coin is similar to a "pet rock" because it "does nothing."
"There's a cryptocurrency which might actually do something... You can use it to buy and sell real estate and move data - tokenizing things that you do something with," Dimon said.
"And then there's one which does nothing," he added, referring to bitcoin.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Says Bitcoin Being Used in Criminal Activities
Despite bitcoin's current trading value above $42,700, up over 100% in the past year, Jamie Dimon remained unswayed. In his latest remarks, he said the only "real use cases" for bitcoin are illegal activities like fraud, money laundering, and sex trafficking. He also said he would no longer discuss bitcoin with CNBC.
"This is the last time I'm talking about this with CNBC, so help me God... Blockchain is real. It's a technology. We use it. It's going to move money, it's going to move data. It's efficient. We've been talking about that for 12 years, too, and it's very small," Dimon said. "I think we waste too many words on that."
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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Last week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the country. It is the first-ever investment vehicle enabling investors to invest in real-time bitcoin prices through standard security exchanges.
The SEC has given the green light to 11 bitcoin ETF applications from various issuers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, and VanEck, even though some officials and investor advocates warned that the products carried risks.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink was among those skeptical of crypto because he said it was used as a payment method for illegal activities, but he has since changed his mind.
When asked what he thinks about Fink changing his view on digital currency as BlackRock jumped into the business of spot ETFs, Dimon said: "I don't care. So just please stop talking about this s**t."
"I don't know what he would say about blockchain versus currencies that do something versus bitcoin that does nothing... But you know this is what makes a market. People have opinions, and this is the last time I'm ever going to state my opinion," he added.
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