JPMorgan Chase CEO warns investors to 'be careful with cryptocurrencies'

During a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Thursday, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he personally has concerns about cryptocurrencies, but that they will not stop JPMorgan from offering crypto-related financial services.

"My personal advice to people is to stay away from it," he said. "It doesn't mean customers don't want it, it's about how you do business. Just like I don't smoke marijuana, but if you legalized it nationwide, I wouldn't stop people from spending money on it."

Dimon said cryptocurrencies cannot be compared to fiat currencies or gold, and warned: “Buyer beware.”

JPMorgan Chase and its rivals are continuing to dabble in cryptocurrencies, with the bank preparing to offer actively managed bitcoin funds to private wealth clients.

“A lot of our clients are asking, ‘Can we help them buy and sell cryptocurrencies?’ ” Dimon said at JPMorgan’s annual shareholder meeting on May 18. “We’re investing in that.”

Embracing cryptocurrencies is a shift for Dimon, who in 2017 described Bitcoin as a “fraud.”

Previously, Dimon told The Wall Street Journal that he was not a supporter of Bitcoin and had no interest in it.

Dimon also made an interesting statement about Bitcoin: “I don’t really care about Bitcoin. I’m not interested in Bitcoin. But customers are interested, and I can’t tell customers what to do.”

Dimon told Congress today that JPMorgan is discussing how to offer cryptocurrency products in a “secure” way.

He suggested that the asset class could benefit from a stricter regulatory framework, speculating that governments will pay more attention to cryptocurrencies in the future.