Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co., has said that bitcoin is a fraud and a financial bubble.
He said bitcoin was as bad or worse than Tulipomania. As a result, cryptocurrencies generally moved down. Bitcoin itself lost five percent. This comes on top of Chinese moves to reduce crypto exposure throughout the county which thrust bitcoin below $5,000..
Anyone trading cryptocurrencies would be fired, Dimon said. But, on the other hand, he wouldn’t sell bitcoin short because it could still rise a lot more before crashing.
Bitcoin is probably overpriced but that doesn’t mean it will fall to nothing. There is a reason for bitcoin. It is a private money that people are using instead of central bank currencies.
Many people do not like central bank currencies with their too-low interest rates and too-high volume of money. Bitcoin is an option, along with other cryptocurrencies, to diversify.
Bitcoin may indeed go lower, perhaps much lower. But it won’t simply vanish until alternatives to central bank currencies are offered. Central banks themselves say they are working on such alternative currencies. But it is highly doubtful that central banks can create legitimate alternatives.
Gold and silver are good alternatives to cryptocurrencies But gold and silver markets seem overwhelmingly controlled by central banks and Wall Street firms.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not simply going to vanish overnight. Right now they represent a definite alternative.