Capitulation
JPMorgan Offers Its Clients Bitcoin; Plus "Just Say No" and Other Three-Word Phrases
Just last month, I published a piece on how the big banks were on their way into the crypto space. Today, another one of said big banks jumped on the bandwagon. JPMorgan announced that it is preparing to offer a Bitcoin fund to wealthy clients. So, given the news, let’s take a look at a timeline of CEO of JPMorgan Jamie Dimon’s takes on Bitcoin as they pair up with Bitcoin’s price action:
11/4/15
Jamie Dimon: Virtual Currency Will Be Stopped (Fortune)
Price of BTC: Approx. $702
9/12/17
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says Bitcoin Is a ‘Fraud’ That Will Eventually Blow Up (CNBC)
Price of BTC: Approx. $4,182
1/9/18
Jamie Dimon Says He Regrets Calling Bitcoin a Fraud and Believes in the Technology Behind It (CNBC)
Price of BTC: Approx. $15,154
11/18/20
Price of BTC: Approx. $16,800
2/25/21
JPMorgan Says Investors Could Make Bitcoin 1% of Portfolios (Bloomberg)
Price of BTC: Approx. $50,482
4/26/21
JPMorgan May Offer Actively Managed Bitcoin Fund: Report (MarketWatch)
Price of BTC: Approx. $53,801
So, what can we learn from the words and numbers above? Well, I'd love to be more poetic, but all that comes to mind are the following three words: Fuck Jamie Dimon. And fuck is his bank, too. Let me explain why. JPMorgan played a significant role in the 2008 financial collapse, as they underwrote more than their fair share of fraudulent securities. They eventually paid a $13 billion fine for doing so, which means you can imagine that they probably pocketed 20 times amount of money in said fraudulent activity. Big banks are used to paying these fees as a cost of doing business. Never mind the amount of people they hurt in the process or the moral hazard that is created in the process of bailing them out. So, not only did this man take your taxpayer dollars for his bailout after playing his role in collapsing the financial system, but he then played his part in stoking fear and convincing you not to buy the best performing asset of the last decade before capitulating and creating a fund to offer it only to his wealthy clients. And the kicker is that for a 2% fee they are going to “actively manage” an asset that has returned over 200% year-over-year (YOY). Truly remarkable stuff.
When JPMorgan gets around to offering Bitcoin to the plebs it serves, please remember another three words: Just say no. Bitcoin is the antithesis of Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan. It was literally created in response to banks like JPMorgan being bailed out in 2008. Bitcoin makes Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan, as well as the central banks that bail him and his bank out time and time again, irrelevant. As I said in my original article about big banks coming to the table, do not give them your money. Go and buy the asset yourself through exchanges like Gemini, Coinbase, or Swan Bitcoin.
The Dust Has Settled
Bitcoin has begun to rebound from its “crash”, which seemed to have been caused at first by a diminished hash rate, and then mostly by overleveraged Bitcoin traders. If there is a group of people on planet Earth that deserve to lose a tremendous amount of money overnight, it is people who trade Bitcoin with leverage. The equivalent of such an action is like sticking a heroin needle in your arm, letting the high take hold, and then saying to yourself, “You know what this heroin could really use? Cocaine!” Truly an unprecedented amount of greed. All you have to do is buy Bitcoin and hold it - at least through the bull market portion of its cycles. And, if you have a much longer time horizon, it has still proven to be a wildly profitable investment. But that’s apparently not enough for some people. They need to trade it with leverage, and when the price drops just a little, the dominos fall, and then the price drops a whole lot. Regardless, this is what cleans up the market during these bull runs. So, now that the dust has settled, we are back to our regularly scheduled program.
Best,
Frank
Twitter: @frankcorva
Currently Watching: Session 1 of MIT’s “Blockchain and Money” Course (This course that was taught at MIT by the current head of the SEC, Gary Gensler! It is free to watch online.)
Let the banks help the richer - Let the DEX help the poorer
Johnjust now
Trade between BTC and ETH on their journey, HODL one or the other or both - or dive into the rabbit hole - at this point there isn’t much to lose and a whole lot to gain as long as you’ve got your fiat lunch money put aside