Following JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s recent comments that Bitcoin (BTC) is worthless, two well-known billionaires have leaped to its defense — although both of them say Ether (ETH) has some even more desirable properties. During an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday, Barry Sternlicht, a co-founder of Starwood Capital Group, said that gold was actually “worthless” and that he is hodling Bitcoin because every government in the “western hemisphere” is printing endless amounts of money. Sternlicht is estimated to have a net worth of around $4.4 billion and is known for his investments in the real estate market via …

Bitcoin (BTC) has led a 35% rally this week by soaring far above the $50,000 resistance level and restoring a $1-trillion market capitalization to the asset. According to a note shared by JPMorgan with clients on Thursday, the recent increase in price for BTC was predominantly attributed to institutional investors looking for a hedge to inflation. “The re-emergence of inflation concerns among investors has renewed interest in the usage of Bitcoin as an inflation hedge,” the analysts said, arguing there has been a shift in perception as to the merits of BTC in relation to gold. “Institutional investors appear to …

In an online interview with Times of India, Jamie Dimon, CEO of investment banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase, slandered Bitcoin’s popular appeal, despite stating that the leading digital asset could increase 10x in a matter of five years. A historically staunch critic of Bitcoin (BTC), Dimon called it a fraud back in 2017 and cited the reported capability for criminals to evade capture from authorities by operating their financial transactions in BTC rather than U.S. dollars. When Times of India asked the CEO whether Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency assets should be banned or regulated, Dimon responded: “I don’t really care about …

American multinational investment bank JPMorgan has revealed that institutional investors are starting to shy away from Bitcoin futures in favor of Ether derivatives. In a note to investors on Wednesday, analysts at the Wall Street bank said that Bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have traded at a discount compared to spot BTC prices during September. As a consequence, Ethereum-based products have grown in popularity as investors make the switch to the world’s second-largest crypto asset. The analysts commented that there has been a “strong divergence in demand,” before adding: “This is a setback for Bitcoin and a …

Bitcoin (BTC) has the potential to push its prices to between $250,000 and $350,000 by the end of 2021, a long-standing fractal suggests. First spotted by pseudonymous analyst Bit Harington, the bullish setup drew its inspirations from Bitcoin’s spectacular bull runs every time after halvings, which is when the miner block reward gets cut in half. Analysts perceive the halving as a bullish event, which reduced the supply of newly mined BTC. Harington reminded that Bitcoin’s prices surged by more than 600% after the first two halving events in 2012 and 2016 when measured from a so-called resistance/support (R/S) line, …

JPMorgan analysts have warned clients that cryptocurrency markets are looking frothy after the August trading boom saw spot market trading volumes once again top $1 trillion. In a note to clients reported by Markets Insider, the JPMorgan analysts suggested valuations in crypto markets, especially altcoins and nonfungible tokens (NFT), are getting too high. “The share of altcoins looks rather elevated by historical standards and in our opinion it is more likely to be a reflection of froth and retail investor ‘mania’ rather than a reflection of a structural uptrend.” The bank’s analysts noted that altcoin trading now accounts for about …

OnlyFans has made a sharp U-turn on its decision to ban sexually explicit content after it had received a backlash from creators and some new assurances from at least one bank suffering bad PR. The platform became wildly popular by connecting online sex workers to subscribers, but this has not gone down well with a number of major banks. The firm was forced to change its policy on Aug. 19 to prohibit “sexually explicit conduct” following pressure from the Bank of New York Mellon, Metro Bank and JPMorgan Chase, which refused to provide services to users of the platform. In …

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) is back at the $50,000 level, and there's little doubt that the 47% positive rally over the past 30 days has been fueled by whale accumulation, institutional adoption and positive remarks from regulators regarding a possible exchange-traded fund (EFT) approval. Despite the positive newsflow, the top traders at crypto exchanges and derivatives data appear unmoved by the recent rally to the $50,000 resistance. Crypto analyst Will Clemente highlighted the accumulation from addresses containing 1,000 to 10,000 BTC. Price down today while whale holdings went up by ~13,000 BTC. Funny how that works. pic.twitter.com/a6tb2DiqxH — Will …

American banking giant JPMorgan Chase has reportedly blocked all account activities of Compass Mining, a Bitcoin (BTC) mining company based out of Delaware. The information came to light when Compass Mining CEO Whit Gibbs announced: “Shoutout to Chase for shutting down Compass Mining accounts for doing our part to replace the old guard with self-sovereign, future-focused supporters of hard money. Get behind #Bitcoin or get out of our way.” Compass Mining has been involved in offering mining rigs and hardware hosting services for Bitcoin mining. Under the pretext of supporting the Bitcoin hash rate and network, the company allows individual …

JPMorgan Chase quietly opened up access to six crypto funds over the past three weeks as it looks to offer crypto exposure to a variety of clients. In the latest move, the bank’s private clients will now have access to a new Bitcoin fund created by crypto investment firm New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG). NYDIG is owned by Stone Ridge Asset Management and the “Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund” offers exposure to Bitcoin via futures markets. The NYDIG fund is in addition to five crypto funds that the bank opened access to last month: Grayscale Investments’ Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, …

Major U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Chase is reportedly allowing advisers to execute crypto trades for more of its clients. According to a Thursday report from Business Insider, retail wealth clients at JPMorgan now have access to cryptocurrency funds. A person directly familiar with the bank’s move to the digital space said all JPMorgan clients seeking investment advice — including those managed by financial advisers, retail investors using its trading app and clients serviced by the private bank — would have the opportunity to invest in crypto. JPMorgan clients now reportedly have access to the Grayscale Investments’ Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Bitcoin …

Despite Bitcoin (BTC) not yet emerging as an “asset class per se,” JPMorgan considers it important to meet the demand for cryptocurrency investment, according to a senior wealth management executive. A large number of JPMorgan clients see digital currencies like Bitcoin as an asset class, the company’s director of asset and wealth management, Mary Callahan Erdoes, said. In a Bloomberg interview released Tuesday, Erdoes stressed that the bank will continue providing crypto services to meet the growing demand, stating: “A lot of our clients say, ‘That’s an asset class, and I want to invest,’ and our job is to help …