JP Morgan Chase boss once called bitcoin a ‘fraud’, now the bank is issuing its own crypto

A major bank will become the first of its kind to issue its own form of crypto, less than 18 months after its boss said the form of currency was “stupid”.

Jamie Dimon once called bitcoin a “fraud” — but now he’s leading Wall Street’s push into cryptocurrencies.

Dimon-led banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase will reportedly start issuing bitcoin-like digital currencies called “JPM Coins” to other institutions and accredited investors, making it the first major bank to issue its own form of the digital money.

JP Morgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon goes from bitcoin sceptic to pusher.

The JPM Coins would be worth a dollar each, and would largely be used to speed up transactions, settlements, and treasury services, Umar Farooq, head of JPMorgan’s blockchain projects, told CNBC.

“So anything that currently exists in the world, as that moves onto the blockchain, this would be the payment leg for that transaction,” Farooq told the outlet.

JP Morgan will become the first major bank to issue its own form of the digital money.

The bank plans to start testing the coins in the next “few months,” but it would likely be limited to a small slice of the $6 trillion in daily transactions and fund movements, CNBC said.

In 2017, Dimon was a vocal sceptic of bitcoin, calling it “stupid” in addition to fraudulent, and vowed to fire any of his traders he caught trading the digital currency.

“I wouldn’t put this high in the category of ‘important things in the world,” the brash billionaire banker said in 2017.

Since then, the bank CEO has apologised for calling it a fraud, and said the technology behind bitcoin, called blockchain, had real applications for the financial industry.

The JPM Coins would be worth a dollar each, and would largely be used to speed up transactions, settlements, and treasury services.

Large Wall Street institutions have been wary of using blockchain technology, which is relatively untested and can be expensive and buggy.

While Goldman Sachs has reportedly shelved a crypto trading desk, banks like Citigroup have invested heavily into how to use blockchain technology.

This article originally appeared by the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as JP Morgan Chase boss once called bitcoin a ‘fraud’, now the bank is issuing its own crypto