JPMorgan CEO criticized for Bitcoin ETF role amid anti-crypto comments

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is being criticized by the crypto community on X (formerly Twitter) after being named an authorized participant (AP) by BlackRock, which dropped its updated Form S-1 filing on Dec. 29. Commenting on the BlackRock amendment, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said, “BlackRock just dropped its updated S-1, and it DOES name the APs: Jane Street and JPMorgan (which is kinda ironic).” An authorized participant is an organization with the right to create and redeem shares of an exchange-traded fund (ETF). BlackRock’s updated filing named Jane Street and JPMorgan Securities “authorized participants” in its proposed spot Bitcoin ETF application. However, Dimon hasn’t endorsed Bitcoin publicly. In a Dec. 6 hearing of the United States Senate Banking Committee on oversight of Wall Street firms, Dimon told several U.S. lawmakers that if he had the authority in government, he would try to shut down crypto, claiming Bitcoin and cryptocurrency’s “only true use case” is to facilitate crime. Crypto pundits have quickly pointed out the hypocrisy of JPMorgan as an authorized participant in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF. “Perhaps money laundering, tax evasion, criminal participation, and drug trafficking is their business as well,” said crypto enthusiast Silver Zimmermann on X. “If BlackRock wants to do all that, then fine, but how can JP Morgan do all that after telling Congress and Elizabeth Warren that this is what it’s used for?” another user, Sunny Po, asked on X. Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton also expressed skepticism about Senator Elizabeth Warren’s stance on Bitcoin and pointed out that Dimon’s JPMorgan is willing to be involved with Bitcoin despite “negative associations with criminals.” Deaton questioned whether this was an attempt to mislead the public or engage in gaslighting. Despite being “deeply opposed” to the digital asset sector, JPMorgan recently launched its crypto token — JPM Coin — on a private version of the Ethereum blockchain for its institutional client base. The bank also rolled out a blockchain-based tokenization platform in October, with BlackRock as one of its clients. It also contributed to a $65 million funding round for Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensys in April 2021.