JPMorgan CEO’s dig on Bitcoin and Satoshi spark BTC hodl rumors on Reddit

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s recent attack on the Bitcoin ecosystem made Redditors believe that it may be a “calculated” move to drive the price down to accumulate more BTC for himself.

Crypto community members dismissed JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s ramblings on media outlet CNBC and speculated on the motivations behind the executive’s constant flurry of negative statements toward Bitcoin (BTC). 

On Jan. 17, Dimon went on CNBC and repeated many widely debunked criticisms of Bitcoin, including the possibility of its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, returning to the community to “erase” BTC from existence. The executive also argued that Bitcoin “does nothing” while laying out criminal use cases for the asset. 

"There are cryptocurrencies that do something, that might have value. And then there's one that does nothing, I call it pet rock. The #Bitcoin, or something like that," says @JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. "It has some use cases. Everything else is people trading among themselves." pic.twitter.com/EnUBuIEHkI

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) January 17, 2024

With Dimon constantly flinging dirt toward crypto, community members think this might be an attempt to drive down the price. On Reddit, a user speculated that this may be a “calculated” move. The Redditor said that many old investors listen to Dimon. The community member believes that the negativity directed toward BTC might be an attempt to lower the price as he buys some afterward. 

Meanwhile, some think Dimon is uninformed about Bitcoin, while others believe the executive is simply scooping up Bitcoin in preparation for the upcoming halving. Many believe that the halving event will drive the asset’s price upward. 

While Dimon’s notion that Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto could come back and “erase” Bitcoin may not be possible due to its inherent characteristics, a community member brought up the possibility of Nakamoto selling his Bitcoin stash. Despite it being another hypothetical statement, another Redditor believes that this was a much more feasible theory than what Dimon was suggesting. 

Related: Spot Bitcoin ETF approval recap: A 10-year journey concludes in historic win for crypto

While Dimon continues his tirade against crypto, the company he’s working for is involved with the recently approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). On Dec. 29, asset manager BlackRock named JPMorgan Securities as one of its authorized participants for their ETF. The CEO received criticisms for his anti-crypto comments amid the company’s role in BlackRock’s ETF.