Stablecoins should be ‘properly regulated’ says crypto skeptic Jamie Dimon

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was receptive to new stablecoin rules during a congressional hearing, saying the technology should be “properly regulated.”

The JP Morgan boss is a self-described “major skeptic” on digital assets, he acknowledged during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. Dimon and a half-dozen other CEOs from the nation’s largest banks testified in Washington throughout the day on Wednesday.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) asked Dimon what is keeping him from being more active on cryptocurrencies, and whether Dimon is concerned that other countries could dominate the digital asset space if the U.S. does not take action. The New Jersey lawmaker also referenced his own bill, which would define qualified stablecoins and establish consumer and investor protections.

“There’d be nothing wrong with a stablecoin properly—just like a money market fund—properly regulated,” Dimon said. “You have some today and they are not.”

Dimon’s comments came a day after news broke that lawmakers had drafted a new stablecoin bill that would temporarily ban the types of payment coins that are not backed by outside assets, among other provisions.

“It’s equivalent to a money market fund, you should look at it exactly the same way in terms of disclosure, backup, gates and a whole bunch of different things,” Dimon said.

Dimon pointed to his bank’s JPMorgan coin as an example. 

“Send it to us, we give you a US dollar. It’s a dollar deposit. It can be moved just the way cryptocurrencies can be moved. Stable value, very low cost,” Dimon said.

Wells Fargo & Company CEO Charles Scharf said Gottheimer’s bill is “certainly an option in order to ensure that people understand the underlying value of that stablecoin.”

Dimon had harsher words for other forms of cryptocurrency, saying tokens like bitcoin are “dangerous.”

“I’m a major skeptic on crypto tokens, what you call a currency, like bitcoin. They are decentralized Ponzi schemes. And the notion that it’s good for anybody is unbelievable,” Dimon said. “It’s dangerous.”

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