This morning, the cryptocurrency rocketed past $7,000 in value for the first time ever, which marks a sevenfold increase since the start of the year, reports Reuters. But some bankers remain skeptical, especially Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, who expressed plenty of wariness about bitcoin at a news conference: “From what we can identify, the only reason today to buy or sell bitcoin is to make money, which is the very definition of speculation and the very definition of a bubble.”
He described some other concern, as well. “Bitcoin presents a number of challenges. The first of them is really the anonymity. I think most banks in the current state of regulation have little or no appetite to get involved in a currency which has such anti-money laundering challenges.”
Last month, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who’s optimistic about blockchain, was equally dismissive of bitcoin, saying, “If you’re stupid enough to buy [bitcoin], you’ll pay the price for it one day.”
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