JPMorgan Chase President Daniel Pinto commented on the U.S. economy and cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC, published Monday. Pinto is also the global investment bank’s chief operating officer and CEO of its Corporate & Investment Bank.
The 59-year-old executive grew up in Argentina as a child where inflation was often very high, he shared, noting that living with pervasive inflation was “very, very stressful.” Price increases in Argentina averaged more than 300% a year from 1975 to 1991.
Pinto opined:
"That’s why when people say, ‘the Fed is too hawkish,’ I disagree. I think putting inflation back in a box is very important … If it causes a slightly deeper recession for a period of time, that is the price we have to pay."
The JPMorgan president stressed that the Federal Reserve cannot allow inflation to become ingrained in the economy, emphasizing that a premature return to easier monetary policy risks repeating the mistakes of the 70s and 80s.
Commenting on cryptocurrency, the JPMorgan executive claims that there is little progress recently in terms of the institutional adoption of crypto. Pinto said:
"The reality is, the current form of crypto has become a small asset class that is kind of irrelevant in the scheme of things."
However, he noted: “But the technology, the concepts, something is probably going to happen there; just not in its current form.”
In contrast to Pinto’s belief, many big companies and banks are seeing increased institutional interest in crypto, and are ramping up their crypto services. Nasdaq established a crypto unit in September citing increased demand for digital assets among institutional investors. Financial giant State Street recently said that it sees unwaning demand from institutions. In May, Citi, Wells Fargo, and BNY Mellon invested in crypto firm Talos citing an acceleration in institutional adoption of crypto assets.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also believes that blockchain and decentralized finance (defi) are real. However, he said that cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, are “decentralized Ponzi schemes.”
