Barbados Times

Barbados, Caribbean & World News
Saturday, Feb 22, 2025

Jamie Dimon says Libra will never happen, and he wishes he could take JPMorgan private

Jamie Dimon says Libra will never happen, and he wishes he could take JPMorgan private

Jamie Dimon doesn't think Libra, Facebook's embattled cryptocurrency project, will ever get off the ground.

"It was a neat idea that will never happen," the JPMorgan Chase CEO said on Friday at an event organized by the Institute of International Finance, according to a video posted by CNBC.

Libra has been criticized by politicians, raised privacy concerns and lost support from Visa (V), MasterCard (MA) and other founding members.

Dimon didn't explain why he thinks Libra will fail, though he did question the novelty of it. "We already have stable coins. They're not the first to do that," Dimon said.

JPMorgan (JPM) launched its own digital coin earlier this year, becoming the first major American bank to do so.
"It's backed by a dollar, so it's really stable," Dimon said.

Unlike JPM Coin, Libra would be backed by a fixed basket of reserve currencies.

Neither Facebook nor the Libra Association responded to requests for comments.

But David Marcus, who leads the Libra effort at Faceboo, (FB) recently expressed confidence in the project despite the loss of early supporters.

"I would caution against reading the fate of Libra into this update," Marcus said last week on Twitter, after several companies said they would exit the association.

"Of course, it's not great news in the short term, but in a way it's liberating. Change of this magnitude is hard. You know you're on to something when so much pressure builds up," he said.

Dimon has a history of making outlandish comments about cryptocurrencies. He once called bitcoin a "fraud" and predicted that governments would "crush it." He even threatened to fire any of his bankers if they traded it. The JPMorgan boss later expressed regret for the comments and acknowledged bitcoin is "real."


Dimon wants JPMorgan to go private

Meanwhile, Dimon on Friday ran through a list of complaints about the difficulty of being a public company today. He cited onerous reporting requirements, "farce" shareholder meetings and the threat of potentially "crippling" litigation.
"We are driving companies to the private market," Dimon said. "I would go private if I could. Being a public company has real negative downsides to it."

Going private is not really an option for JPMorgan. It's America's largest and most important bank. And JPMorgan is valued at nearly $400 billion, making it far too rich for any would-be buyer.

Still, to Dimon's point, the number of publicly-listed American companies is shrinking, down by about about 50% in the last 20 years, according to Vanguard.

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, who shared a stage with Dimon, argued that there are some "joys" to being a public company. He cited the ability of companies to sell shares, and the credibility of being vetted by institutions like the SEC.
But Gorman agreed that there are disadvantages, including the need to devote time and resources towards reporting quarterly results. He suggested one way to ease the burden would be to only release revenue every three quarters, with a full earnings release coming twice a year.

"The funny thing about quarters is they come around with alarming frequency," Gorman joked.

The Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO also pointed to the burden of holding shareholder meetings, often in front of scant audiences.
"We have more security guys in our shareholder meetings than shareholders," Gorman said. "It's kind of insane. You're sitting there talking to three people."


'Probably' no recession

One thing shareholders are worried about these days is how long the economic expansion, already the longest in American history, will last.

Dimon acknowledged that businesses are slowing investments because of fears about the trade war. However, he said American households are still strong - and consumer spending remains the biggest part of the economy.

That's why Dimon said the slowing business investment "probably" won't cause the United States to tumble into recession.
And if there is a recession, he feels confident that tough regulation imposed after the 2008 financial crisis will prevent another meltdown.

"Lehman simply wouldn't happen," Dimon said, pointing to strong capital requirements and the legal authority granted to the FDIC to take over a bank that is collapsing as Lehman Brothers did.

He also dismissed the concern voiced by former FDIC chief Sheila Bair and others that regulators have unshackled America's banks by dismantling the post-crisis guardrails.

"These are teeny, weenie little adjustments at the margin that make virtually no difference," Dimon said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Barbados Times
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×