Jamie Dimon Vindicated? Bitcoin’s Back to Where He Cried ‘Fraud’

(Bloomberg) -- Maybe Jamie Dimon was right after all.

In September 2017, the JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer famously called Bitcoin a “fraud” and threatened to fire any employee caught trading it. While the cryptocurrency briefly fell on his remarks, it went on to rally more than fourfold in three months as crypto-mania swept the globe. Dimon became a favorite punching bag for Bitcoin bulls, even after saying later that he regretted the comments and that he believes in the digital asset’s underlying blockchain technology.

These days, Dimon’s Bitcoin pessimism is looking more prescient. After tumbling as much as 78 percent from its peak, the cryptocurrency has returned to its level on the day the billionaire banker issued his warning last year. Many of Bitcoin’s peers have sunk even further, with the market of all virtual currencies tracked by CoinMarketCap.com tumbling almost $700 billion from an all-time high in January.

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