JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says The Government Will 'Stop' Bitcoin

from the good-luck-with-that dept

One of these days I'm finally going to get around to writing the piece I've been planning for the better part of a year on the importance of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies, but in the meantime, it's still fun to see the way traditional bankers try to wrap their heads around it. Apparently, for JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, it's to say he's not at all concerned about it because he's sure that the government will step in and kill Bitcoin should it ever really matter:

“Virtual currency, where it’s called a bitcoin vs. a U.S. dollar, that’s going to be stopped,” said Dimon. “No government will ever support a virtual currency that goes around borders and doesn’t have the same controls. It’s not going to happen.”

That's kind of an incredible statement when you think about it -- a sort of direct admission that Wall Street knows how tightly it's in bed with Washington DC, that should something like Bitcoin ever challenge Wall Street's power, he has no fear that the politicians will "stop" the virtual currency.

Talk about regulatory capture...

Of course, that confidence that the US government will kill the innovation is perhaps the biggest weakness of Dimon's argument. We have no doubt that governments are already trying their damnedest to kill off innovation around cryptocurrencies, but the larger question is really whether or not that's even really possible.

Here's the problem for Dimon: should Bitcoin really reach the point at which Wall Street really views it as a true threat, then it's probably too late for it to be stopped. That's one of the (many) interesting parts about cryptocurrencies. The ability to stop them as they get more and more successful becomes significantly more difficult, to the point of reaching a near impossibility. But, it sure will lead to some amusing and ridiculous regulatory fights.

Filed Under: bitcoin, cryptocurrency, innovation, jamie dimon, money, regulation
Companies: jpmorgan

Bill Collectors Targeting Kids' Social Networking Profiles?

from the getting-a-bit-desperate,-eh? dept

We've discussed in the past attempts to serve court documents via Facebook, but apparently others are making use of such tactics as well. A few people alerted us to the story of a bill collector, apparently hired by JPMorgan Chase, who supposedly tracked down the MySpace account of the daughter of someone who was behind on some car loan payments, and posted the debt collection notice on the kids' MySpace page. In the past, people would stop answering the phone or the doorbell to avoid debt collectors. Will they start locking down their social networking profiles as well?

Filed Under: bill collectors, debt collectors, social networks
Companies: jpmorgan, myspace

Like $200 Million In Invesment Money Is Going To Make A Difference In Hollywood?

from the it'll-make-one-crappy-movie dept

We've discussed in the past the idea that Wall Street might start investing directly in movies, hoping that if that happened it would help kick the studios into realizing that their old model of doing things wasn't working out so well. With that in mind, it's not too surprising to hear that JPMorgan is planning to start investing in Hollywood, hiring some former Hollywood bigshots as advisors and setting aside $200 million for investments. Wait... $200 million? Isn't that what Hollywood insiders falsely insist a good movie has to cost to make these days? In other words, isn't that pocket change? It's hard to see how that kind of money makes any difference at all in Hollywood unless JPMorgan is really planning to embrace the Silicon Valley model of making films, where less money is put to more efficient work. Hopefully, that's where it's heading (though, hiring those bigshots suggests otherwise). If it's simply going to throw that money into the traditional Hollywood machine, it seems quite unlikely that it will last very long or go very far.

Filed Under: movies, wall street
Companies: jpmorgan