Blockchain: JPMorgan to Use Blockchain ‘for a Whole Lot of Things’, says CEO
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was bullish on blockchain tech however he avoided commenting on cryptocurrency. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review, he said that fiat payments apps are “the biggest potential disruption to our business.”
Dimon is the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase which is the largest among the big four banks of America. When Dimon was asked about the threat to the company’s chief competitive, he specifically named “new forms of payment” such as PayPal, Venmo, and Alipay.
“These companies are doing a good job of embedding basic banking services in their chats, their social, their shopping experience,” Dimon said.
Meanwhile, when he was asked about his insights on cryptocurrency, Dimon refused to comment. However, he argued that crypto is not similar to gold or fiat currencies which are supported by laws, police and that they are “not replicable, and there are strictures on them.”
Further, he also called the blockchain technology is “real.”
“JPMorgan is testing it [blockchain] and will use it for a whole lot of things,” Dimon said.
Although the official position of JPMorgan on cryptocurrency does not match Dimon’s opinion, they have both seen a shift since last year. At an investor’s meeting last year, Dimon reportedly called Bitcoin, a “fraud” as well as threatened to fire employees who trade Bitcoin with the accounts of the company.
On February 27, JPMorgan marked cryptocurrency under “Competition” subsection in an SEC filing, saying it could “put downward pressure on prices and fees for JPMorgan Chase’s products and services or may cause JPMorgan Chase to lose market share.”
Still, in February this year, there was an internal report of JPMorgan that called cryptocurrencies the “face of the innovative maelstrom around the blockchain technology.”
Blockchain: Starbucks Clarifies on Not Accepting Bitcoin as Payment
On Friday, Starbucks has clarified that it will not accept Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency as payment. This is in contrary with the misleading reports from various mainstream media.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) operator the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has plans for the creation of a new “global platform and ecosystem for digital assets,” which as dubbed as “Bakkt.” Further, this is along with the group of big-name enterprises such as BCG, Microsoft, and Starbucks.
After this announcement, various mainstream media such as CNBC which published a misleading headline saying, “New Starbucks partnership with Microsoft allows customers to pay for Frappuccinos with bitcoin.”
“Customers will not be able to pay for Frappuccinos with bitcoin [but rather] the company is part of a new venture creating a platform, Bakkt, to convert digital assets like Bitcoin into U.S. dollars, which can be used at Starbucks,” a Starbucks spokesperson clarified.
