JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon regrets having called bitcoin a “fraud” but would still not be interested in the cryptocurrency, he said in an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday.
Mr Dimon, known for his candid comments, slammed the viability of bitcoin in September. His comments were followed by a more tempered view from chief financial officer Marianne Lake, who said the bank was “very open minded to the potential use cases in future for digital currencies that are properly controlled and regulated”.
On Tuesday, bitcoin was down nearly 5 per cent at $14,202 in early trading. It traded at $909 a year ago and breached $19,000 in December.
Mr Dimon and Ms Lake, however, have commended blockchain – the technology used by bitcoin and other digital currencies – a view echoed by Citigroup chief financial office John Gerspach and many others across the industry.
“Blockchain is real. You can have crypto yen and dollars and stuff like that,” Mr Dimon told Fox.