People thought they caught JPMorgan buying bitcoin after Jamie Dimon called it a 'fraud' — but that's not what happened

pulse

September 18, 2017 7:45 PM

There's a straightforward explanation.

Over the weekend, a tweet, which suggested JPMorgan was buying up a product tied to the value of bitcoin, sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency community.

But like most outrage on the internet, it was unwarranted.

The screenshot, which was retweeted over 2,000 times, shows JPMorgan was among one of the largest buyers of a bitcoin exchange traded note trading on Nasdaq's Stockholm exchange. Here's the tweet:

We see you @jpmorgan $btc ... @ I am Nomad

Immediately Twitter erupted, lambasting JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who recently called bitcoin "a fraud" and said it was "worse than tulip bulbs," as a hypocrite. Some questioned whether Dimon, whose comments triggered a sell-off of the coin, purposely bashed the cryptocurrency so JPMorgan could "buy low."

@IamNomad @jpmorgan Quoted ... @ Ching Yu Tan

Others wondered if Dimon would follow through on his promise to fire employees of the bank who traded the cryptocurrency. Here's one tweet:

@IamNomad @jpmorgan Can som... @ Spoofy

Dimon probably won't be firing anyone, but not because he's behind some sort of bitcoin-related conspiracy. He won't be firing anyone at the bank, because the orders weren't placed by JPMorgan employees.

"They are not JPMorgan orders," a spokesman said in an email to Business Insider."These are clients purchasing third party products directly."

In other words, JPMorgan asset managers weren't buying this product for their clients. Rather, the bank's clients were using JPMorgan's pipes to buy it themselves.

pulse