Jamie Dimon said Tuesday that the bitcoin is a "fraud" and that he would fire anyone at JPMorgan Chase who traded in it.
The JPMorgan Chase chief executive officer made his comments at a Barclays investment conference, saying that trading the virtual currency was against the bank's rules, adding that that it was "stupid" and "far too dangerous," CNN Money reported.
The price for one bitcoin is about $4,115, but dropped about 2 percent following Dimon's talk. CNN Money said. Word that China may place more regulations on bitcoin there sent the price tumbling 10 percent this week.
"It won't end well," Dimon said at the conference, per CNN Money. "They will eventually blow up. It's a fraud."
Bitcoin, created anonymously in 2009, is a virtual currency earned by people using their computers to compete to solve complex math puzzles, CNN Money said. The winner is rewarded with about 25 bitcoins every 10 minutes.
Bitcoin is stored in a "digital wallet," allowing users to anonymously send and receive bitcoins and purchase goods, but does not involve banks and is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, CNN Money said.
"It's worse than tulip bulbs," Dimon continued, according to CNBC. "…Someone is going to get killed. Currencies have legal support. It will blow up."
At the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor on the same day, Dimon continued to bash bitcoin, CNBC noted.
"It's just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed," Dimon said, per CNBC. "I'm not saying 'go short bitcoin and sell $100,000 of bitcoin before it goes down. This is not advice of what to do. My daughter bought bitcoin, it went up and now she thinks she's a genius."
CNBC reported, though, that bitcoin was already gaining acceptance from some on Wall Street with Fundstrat's Tom Lee predicting that the virtual currency could jump to $6,000 per bitcoin next year.
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