JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon can’t stop talking about bitcoin.

“If you’re stupid enough to buy it, you’ll pay the price for it one day,” Dimon said in response to a moderator question at an Institute of International Finance conference Friday.

The CEO said he could care less about what bitcoin trades at. “The only value of bitcoin is what the other guy’ll pay for it,” Dimon said. “Honestly I think a lot of the buyers out there are out there jazzing it up every day so you’ll buy it too, and take them out.”

Bitcoin hit a record high Friday above $5,800, up more than six times in price for the year.

On Thursday, Dimon said during a post-earnings conference call with media that he’s “not going to talk about bitcoin anymore.” The executive called bitcoin a “fraud” in September and said it “won’t end well.”

Dimon did add on Friday that he believed the blockchain technology behind bitcoin was valid, but he does not understand the value of “non-fiat” digital coins, that is, digital currencies which are not backed by a government.

“Who cares about bitcoin? The world economy is so big,” Dimon said, noting the bank moves about $6 trillion in money around the world every day.

In comparison, bitcoin only has a market capitalization of less than $100 billion.

“This is the last time I’m going to answer any questions about bitcoin, because I really don’t care,” Dimon added.

“When I made that ‘stupid statement’ [calling bitcoin a] fraud, my daughter sent me an email saying, ‘Dad, I own two bitcoins,'” Dimon then joked, “My formerly smart daughter.”

Here’s a transcript of some of Dimon’s comments:

“I could care less about bitcoin…I don’t know why I said anything about it. The blockchain is a technology which is a good technology…we actually use it…it will be useful in a lot of different things. Gold bless the blockchain. Cryptocurrencies, digital currencies…I think are also fine. JPMorgan moves $6 trillion around the world every day, and we don’t do it in cash, it’s done digitally. If it can be done digitally with the blockchain, so be it. But it will still be a dollar cryptocurrency. What I have an issue with is a non-fiat cryptocurrency…so crypto sterling, euro, yen…they are all fine. I don’t personally understand the value of something that has no actual value. You all can do whatever you want and I don’t care.”

“I could care less what bitcoin trades for, how it trades, why it trades, who trades it…if you’re stupid enough to buy it, you’ll pay the price for it one day. I’ve also told people that it can trade at $100,000 before it trades to zero. Tulip bulbs traded for $75,000 or something like that. The only value of bitcoin is what the other guy will pay for it.”

— CNBC’s Kayla Tausche contributed to this report.

Source: Tech CNBC
Jamie Dimon says if you're 'stupid' enough to buy bitcoin, you'll pay the price one day