JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US financial institution, will quickly enable shoppers to purchase bitcoin — regardless of CEO Jamie Dimon’s persistent criticism of the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
Dimon, 69, introduced the key U-turn on the financial institution’s annual investor day on Monday, the place hypothesis continued to swirl over the way forward for the veteran banker, who has been within the high job for almost 20 years.
“We are going to allow you to buy it,” Dimon instructed traders. “We’re not going to custody it. We’re going to put it in statements for clients.”
Dimon has lengthy been a vocal skeptic of bitcoin, citing dangers like cash laundering, and unclear possession. The Queens native as soon as referred to as the coin “worthless” in 2021 and a “pet rock” that “does nothing” in a CNBC interview in Davos final yr.
He even urged in a 2023 Senate testimony that the federal government ought to shut it down over fears it’s linked to a string of felony actions.
In the meantime, crosstown rival Morgan Stanley turned the primary main financial institution in the US to permit its clients to purchase cash in August 2024, with its CEO Ted Choose vowing to deepen its involvement in crypto.
JPMorgan’s shift comes because the Trump administration adopts a extra crypto-friendly regulatory atmosphere following 4 years of the Gary Gensler-led SEC launching authorized battles in opposition to a string of digital asset corporations.
JPMorgan’s succession plan was additionally underneath the microscope on Monday after calls from high Wall Road analyst Mike Mayo of Wells Fargo for Dimon to rethink his plans to step down.
Dimon reiterated that he has plans to stay as govt chairman of JPMorgan’s board for a time after stepping down from his CEO function.
“Obviously, it’s up to the board. If I’m here for four more years and maybe two more, three as executive chair. That’s a long time. That’s like a lot of the present value of the world,” he instructed traders.
Dimon had mentioned at JPMorgan’s earlier investor day final Might that his succession timeline was not 5 years anymore, resulting in a direct decline within the inventory value.
Hypothesis over who ought to take over peaked across the US presidential election final yr, since Dimon was floated as a possible Treasury secretary candidate.
4 names are thought of to be within the body: Marianne Lake, the corporate’s head of Shopper & Neighborhood Banking, co-CEOs of JPMorgan’s funding banking operations, Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, and Mary Erdoes, who leads its asset and wealth administration unit.
A veteran of greater than three a long time at JPMorgan, chief working officer Jennifer Piepszak was one of many frontrunners to succeed Dimon till she withdrew from the competitors in January, insisting she didn’t need the highest job.
