There is a country mile between JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and Coinbase (COIN) co-founder Brian Armstrong’s views on digital assets.
Perhaps that shouldn’t be such a shock given their places of employment.
Dimon famously told lawmakers earlier this month that he would put an end to crypto if he had the power to do so.
“I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” Dimon said in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during a Senate hearing.
Dimon was referencing the alleged use of crypto by terrorists, drug traffickers, and rogue nations.
Added Dimon, “If I was the government, I’d close it down.”
Suffice to say, Armstrong, the last big name standing in crypto, sees things differently — and was taken aback by Dimon’s commentary.
“No, I don’t think that’s serious,” Armstrong said on Yahoo Finance Live when asked if he thinks the government will take Dimon’s proposed ban seriously. Armstrong published his 2024 outlook for the crypto industry in a blog post on Coinbase today.
Armstrong pointed to millions of Americans using crypto to diversify their investments as one reason why lawmakers are unlikely to shut down crypto. He also believes the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs is near, which would be another validation of crypto as an alternative investment.
“It’s actually strange because although Jamie Dimon’s comments were a bit perplexing, internally at JPMorgan, they’re actually advancing several projects working on blockchain and crypto technology,” Armstrong added. “So they are such a large organization, I think sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”
JPMorgan declined to comment. The banking giant owns JPM Coin, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, that’s used to transfer funds cross-border between clients. It has also developed Onyx, a blockchain-based platform for payments.
What both top execs could probably agree on is that crypto has caught fire again, after bad actors like FTX and Binance were flushed from the system.
The price of bitcoin has risen more than 150% since the beginning of January.
Additionally, the total market capitalization of all crypto assets as measured by CoinGecko has roughly doubled over the past year, swelling to over $1.6 trillion. Coinbase’s share price has more than quadrupled during the same period, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter/X @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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