JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon recently expressed his opinion on the ongoing Libra controversy, stating that he does not expect the Facebook’s nascent crypto project Libra to have any short term impact on the global banking system. He said, maybe two or three years from now we might be concerned over Libra, but for now, it’s not that big of a threat to the traditional financial institutions. Currently, JP Morgan is the leader among US banks in terms of retail deposits.
Dimon’s comment seems to suggest that the banking sector should not get rifled with a product which is way early in its development, and even though it is being projected as a universal token for the unbanked. He said,
“We’re going to be talking about Libra three years from now. I wouldn’t spend too much time on it,”
He also gave an analogy starting that the world has been talking about blockchain for seven years and nothing substantial has happened in that horizon either. In an earlier interview, Dimon has said that crypto products would most likely compete with legacy banking systems, and if we take in the number of regulatory hurdles into consideration, the rollout of such products would be hugely impacted due to delayed launch. He explained,
“Governments are going to insist that people who hold money or move money all live according to rules where they have the right controls in place; no-one wants to aid and abet terrorism or criminal activities,”
Dimon wants a leveled playing field
Dimon was quite a popular Bitcoin naysayer a couple of years back where he was seen bashing Bitcoin left to right and center. He called the crypto space a bubble waiting to be busted but finally came around to launch their own stable coin JPM coin. At the time of the launch of the coin, Dimon said, “The technology is very good, but it takes time in terms of licensing and approval. It must be explained,”
The launch of the coin was a proof that the likes of JP Morgan have made peace with the fact that crypto is here to stay, With the announcement of Libra which is being touted as a financial system set to disrupt the banking sector, the likes of Dimon says they are all up for a healthy competition but “the request is always going to be the same: We want a level playing field.”
