JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon tells Sen. Elizabeth Warren that government should shut down crypto

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told a panel of lawmakers on Wednesday that he would shut down crypto, if he was the government.

“I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc,” Dimon said during a Senate Banking Committee hearing when asked by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., about his opinion on why crypto could be an attractive tool for bad actors.

“If I was the government, I’d close it down,” Dimon continued, noting that crypto can bypass government controls.

Dimon has not been shy about his dismay for crypto over the years and has said before that people should stay away from bitcoin. He’s also said stablecoins need to be properly regulated.

His comments came as lawmakers in Washington are working to reign in the industry, with Sen. Warren pushing for her bill, the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, that aims to extend Bank Secrecy Act requirements including know-your-customer rules to crypto miners, validators, wallet providers and others.

Anti-money laundering rules

Warren also asked the panel of bank executives, including Wells Fargo & Company CEO Charles Scharf, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, if they agreed that crypto should follow the same anti-money laundering rules that their banks follow.

“Absolutely,” they all replied.

“When it comes to banking policy, I am not usually holding hands with the CEOs of multibillion dollar banks, but this is a matter of national security,” Warren said.