Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, sells his bank shares - bitcoin anyone?

Table of Contents

• Share sale points to lack of confidence in banks
• Opinion
• Bitcoin

Jamie Dimon, head of the biggest bank in the U.S., has let it be known that he will sell 1 million of his shares in JP Morgan beginning next year. This is the first time that Dimon will sell his bank shares for anything other than exercising options.

Banks are going through the most torrid of times. Many have gone to the Federal Reserve in order to receive the promised 100% on their bonds that are underwater. If this facility were not available, the banking system would likely have crashed to dust as depositors pulled their cash out, exactly as was the case with Silicon Valley Bank.

Share sale points to lack of confidence in banks

For Dimon to sell part of his ownership shares in his beloved JP Morgan Bank is testimony to what must be his failing confidence in the bank, and in the entire banking system in the United States.

The fact that Dimon is selling his shares gradually over the course of next year is because of insider trading rules which prevent those on the inside trading on news that they would likely be among the first to receive. The 1 million shares in JP Morgan make up around 12% of Dimon and his family’s share in the stock. According to reports, the sale is for “tax planning” and “diversification” reasons.

Opinion

The writing is on the wall for banks. Overstaffed, ponderous, and seemingly unable to provide a decent service to their customers, banks have morphed into the role of controlling and ruling their customers, having the final say on how much can be spent and who it is sent to, among other decisions that were always the customer’s, even in recent memory.

On top of being tools of surveillance for government, banks are even becoming politicised. Take the case of thousands and thousands of people who have literally been de-banked, and the case of Nigel Farage in the UK who had his bank account cancelled simply because of his political views.

What banks must realise though, is that their time as overlords of their customers is drawing to an end. As central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are phased in there will eventually be no need for banks, given that the central bank will be the sole provider of a wallet for each citizen, giving it control over what every citizen can and can’t spend their money on. If a social credit score system is added to this, just like what is happening in China right now, the control becomes absolute, and any form of dissent could be stopped immediately by denying funds to the dissenter.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is outside the monetary system, and cannot be controlled by governments or any other third party. Detractors might say that banks could deny any off-ramping in order to stop holders spending their bitcoin. However, peer-to-peer transactions could still take place. Nation States are finding it ever more difficult to keep up with decentralised technologies that provide citizens with ways to communicate and transact freely with others. The battle is not yet over.