Wall Street Embrace of Crypto Grows Closer as Employees Argue on Its Behalf: CNBC
Wall Street giants are facing increased pressure from their employees about accepting bitcoin as a legitimate asset class, CNBC reported Friday.
- Joining a Zoom call with thousands of JPMorgan Chase traders in January, co-President Daniel Pinto suggested he was open-minded about the cryptocurrency, CNBC said, citing people with knowledge of the call.
- Pinto was responding to global markets head Troy Rohrbaugh acknowledging that the bank's own employees are increasingly asking when it will get involved in cryptocurrency.
- When subsequently clarifying his comments, Pinto iterated that the decision would be based on demand from clients.
- "The demand isn't there yet, but I'm sure it will be at some point," he said to CNBC.
- JPMorgan is often seen by crypto enthusiasts as the epitome of mainstream finance skepticism of cryptocurrency, CNBC said, thanks largely to comments made by CEO Jamie Dimon in 2017 when he labelled bitcoin a "fraud," saying he would fire any traders known to be trading it.
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