JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon delivers a speech through the Global Markets Conference, ahead of the Select France summit, in Paris, on May 15, 2025.
Michel Euler | Afp | Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase is finally allowing clients to purchase bitcoin. But CEO Jamie Dimon remains to be a skeptic.
“We’re going to mean you can buy it,” Dimon said on the bank’s annual investor day on Monday. “We’re not going to custody it. We’ll put it in statements for clients.”
The choice marks a notable step for the most important U.S. bank, particularly on account of Dimon’s history of criticizing the digital currency and the crypto market broadly, and is the most recent sign of bitcoin’s entry into mainstream investing. Since August, Morgan Stanley has allowed its financial advisors to pitch some spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds to qualifying clients.
Dimon made it clear that his personal view of bitcoin stays unchanged, highlighting issues like money laundering and the shortage of clarity surrounding ownership, together with “the sex trafficking, the terrorism.”
“I do not think you need to smoke, but I defend your right to smoke,” Dimon said. “I defend your right to purchase bitcoin.”
A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to elaborate on the bank’s specific plans for bitcoin access. Until now, the corporate has limited its crypto exposure primarily to futures-based products, not direct ownership of bitcoin.
When crypto valuations were soaring in 2021, Dimon dismissed bitcoin as “worthless.” He told lawmakers during a Senate hearing in late 2023 that he’s “at all times been deeply against crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” and that, “The one true use case for it’s criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance.” He said on the hearing that, “If I used to be the federal government, I’d close it down.”
On the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos, Dimon said, “Bitcoin does nothing. I call it the pet rock.” He added that, “That is the last time I’m talking in regards to the with CNBC, so help me God.”
Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick told CNBC at this 12 months’s event in Davos that the investment bank is exploring ways to deepen its involvement in cryptocurrency markets, navigating the regulatory landscape under the pro-crypto administration of President Donald Trump.
Since President Trump took office in January, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have rescinded their anti-crypto guidance. While banks can now custody crypto, due to the repeal of an accounting rule called SAB 121, they still face restrictions on working directly with crypto firms without explicit approval from the Federal Reserve.
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