Trump weighing Bitcoin hater Jamie Dimon for US Treasury

Former United States President and current Republican ticket nominee Donald Trump said recently that, if elected, he would consider JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon for his cabinet as secretary of the Treasury. He also intends to leave Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in place. 

Trump’s comments stem from an interview with Bloomberg reportedly conducted in late June and published on July 16. It’s unclear if the former president’s thinking remains the same in the wake of the July 13 assassination attempt.

Dimon?

This appears to be the first time Dimon has been publicly linked to a potential Trump administration. The two have had a somewhat cantankerous relationship in the past, with Trump recently calling Dimon a “highly overrated globalist” in a November 2023 post on Truth Social. For his part, Dimon previously urged people to support Trump opponent Nikki Haley for the Republican nomination.

During a recent Bloomberg interview, Trump said he had “a lot of respect for Jamie Dimon” and would consider him for the position of secretary of the Treasury.

While this doesn’t necessarily indicate any serious consideration, the fact that Dimon isn’t being ruled out could be cause for concern for the cryptocurrency and blockchain communities.

Crypto

In a hearing on Dec. 6, 2023, Dimon told Congress that the only true use case for cryptocurrency is “criminals, drug traffickers, money laundering, tax avoidance.” He added, “ If I were the government, I’d close it down .” This is despite the fact that JPMorgan  has its own blockchain token , JPM Coin.

It bears mentioning that Trump has also been negative on Bitcoin ( BTC ) and crypto in general in the past as well. Back in 2019, while president, Trump posted a thread on X (then Twitter) expressing his disdain for digital currency:

“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air.”

He went on to say, “We have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!”

Trump’s stance on Bitcoin appears to have softened since then. He’s slated to speak at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville on July 27.

Related: Bitcoin conference organizer to raise $15M for Trump campaign