CONTROVERSY “Bitcoin is a Fraud” – JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Berates BTC & John McAfee Defends

JPMorgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, took a shot at Bitcoin in the previous days, calling the cryptocurrency out as a “fraud”, with an expectation of this coin to fail. He also reports, “It’s just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed,” Dimon persists at the Delivering Alpha conference on Tuesday.

These comments grinded a few gears from Bitcoin fans all over, including that of John McAfee, the CEO of New York MGT Capital Investments. McAfee fought back with intensity regarding Dimon’s latter comment, stating that the cost to create bitcoins is dramatically higher than the cost to create a U.S. dollar. “We create bitcoins,” McAfee detailed. “It costs over $1,000 per coin to create a bitcoin. What does it cost to create a U.S. dollar? Which one is the fraud?”

Prior to Jamie Dimon’s comments regarding the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin took a tumble in value and reached its session lows. Therefore, these rebuttals from McAfee came as no surprise, because as a Bitcoin miner, he has a lot at stake.

However, the negative reaction that Jamie’s comments elicited were dramatized due to JP Morgan’s history in dealing with cryptocurrencies. It is no secret that in the past, JP Morgan Chase filed for a U.S. patent for a computerized payment system, sharing strong resemblances with the notorious cyber currency of Bitcoin. In December of 2013 however, news got out and placed JP Morgan’s rejection of the Bitcoin patent on blast.

Dimon’s disapproving comments of Bitcoin came at a time where many well-known individuals of Wall Street started to openly embrace the virtual currency. This is where John McAfee, among other fellow Bitcoin supporters, brought the heat into the debate, yet some later disregarded and even dismissed Jamie Dimon’s comments to be “self-interested”. Jeffrey Van de Leemput, the co-founder of BTC-Finance concluded, “This is only a logical response from corporates who are actively trying to protect their market from outside threats.”