Kevin O’Leary Calls Out JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon on Crypto Threat

Shark Tank host and multi-millionaire venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary came out hard against the CEO of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, on Wednesday.

In an appearance at Converge22, O’Leary said that the CEO of the banking giant is feeling threatened by how crypto is disrupting the traditional payments systems.

O’Leary responded to Dimon’s testimony to the United States Congress last week, where he said to be a “major skeptic” of “crypto tokens, which you call currency, like Bitcoin” and furthermore called them “decentralized Ponzi schemes.

The millionaire investor pinpointed the pain points of traditional finance, its behavior, attitude and dynamics and also made the case for stablecoins:

O’Leary explained that friction is one of the major problems in the traditional financial system and that it’s how banks profit on transaction fees, adding that stablecoins could lead to a reduction in fees throughout the world. He stated:

“This isn’t about speculation on asset price. This is about reducing the fees of how the world’s economies work. More transparent, more productive, completely auditable, regulated, but less expensive. So, does Jamie Dimon feel threatened? You are damn right he does. That is a big part of how he makes money.” 

According to the Shark Tan host, regulatory clarity is needed for sovereign wealth and pension funds to be adding digital assets to their portfolios, and said:

“If you are a sovereign wealth fund or a country that is oil rich, perhaps you are generating a quarter of $1,000,000 in the 12 hours. The only place on earth you can plot that is in the S&P. The only way you can do that is to be compliant with the SEC rules. They are never going to make a move against the SEC in any way until these rules are determined.”

O’Leary, a former Bitcoin skeptic, said to hold around 10% of his worth in crypto with the promise of considering to increase his allocations up to 20% once there are clearer regulations around stablecoins.