At a World Economic Forum event on Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon lobbed another criticism at Bitcoin (BTC -4.08%). Discussing the utility of the market-leading cryptocurrency, Dimon said, “I call it the Pet Rock.”
The comment was a reference to the short-lived Pet Rock fad that took off for a brief moment in the 1970s and made its creator a millionaire. It involved selling consumers a rock for $4 each that came in a custom cardboard box complete with ventilation holes (as if it were a live animal). You’d probably have a hard time selling leftover rock inventory these days (except maybe to a few memorabilia collectors).
But while Dimon remains highly skeptical about the utility and value of Bitcoin, he does see compelling use cases for blockchain technologies. If the billionaire bank CEO is right, another top cryptocurrency could be a better buy.
Dimon is more optimistic about smart contracts
Dimon recently said that he’s fed up with talking about Bitcoin and doesn’t plan to comment on it going forward. On the other hand, the famously successful money man does see promise in smart contracts enabled by blockchain technologies.
Right now, the leading network for running smart contracts is Ethereum (ETH -2.77%). The network’s Ether token could see strong pricing tailwinds if demand for contracts that are documented with an immutable digital ledger and quickly resolved with cryptocurrency tokens takes off.
Speaking on the importance of utility in shaping valuations in the cryptocurrency space, Dimon had this to say: “There’s a cryptocurrency which might actually do something. You can use it to buy and sell real estate and move data — tokenizing things that you do something with.”
Ethereum isn’t the only blockchain network that offers the ability to build and create smart contracts, but it is the clear market leader in the space. Its cryptocurrency has risen 61% over the last year. The token now has a market capitalization of roughly $295.5 billion, trailing behind only Bitcoin — which has an approximately $813 billion market cap.
JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
