From Jamie Dimon to Donald Trump: Why everyone eventually understands Bitcoin

It may take a minute to get to grips with magic internet money, but once you see the scarcity, durability, and predictability, it somehow all falls into place. From Jamie Dimon to Donald Trump, eventually everyone understands Bitcoin.

Eventually everyone understands Bitcoin

Anthony Pompliano summed it up best, against an image of some high-profile personalities, including Donald Trump, Jamie Dimon, and Jerome Powell, who have changed their tune on the number-one coin. He said:

“Eventually everyone understands bitcoin.”

In the beginning, the idea of a decentralized digital currency was met with skepticism, derision, and sometimes outright hostility. Yet, as the years have passed, some of the world’s most influential voices from Wall Street to Washington have changed their tunes, making Bitcoin’s journey from a fringe obsession to a mainstream asset nothing short of historic.

Eventually, everyone understands Bitcoin

Titans of finance: changing their minds

Take Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase. In 2017, he called Bitcoin a “fraud,” threatened to fire employees who traded it, and warned of government crackdowns. Fast-forward to the present, JPMorgan offers Bitcoin exposure to clients and Dimon regularly attends crypto panels. He’s critical of specifics, but his institution is deeply entrenched in blockchain finance.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink went from calling Bitcoin “an index of money laundering” to overseeing the world’s largest asset manager issuing a Bitcoin ETF and publicly referring to it as “digital gold.” Fink’s pivot stunned markets and signaled a shift in how legacy finance regards the new digital economy.

Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve, was also skeptical about crypto for years. Yet under his watch, the Fed now closely monitors Bitcoin, citing its relevance to global markets and even a “competitor to gold.”

Politicians and power players

Donald Trump once dismissed Bitcoin as being highly volatile and based on thin air. But by 2024, Trump was reportedly courting crypto donors and acknowledging Bitcoin’s increasing significance, reflecting the asset’s growing political clout.

Michael Saylor, now synonymous with Bitcoin advocacy, wasn’t always a maximalist. Before 2020, Saylor publicly doubted Bitcoin’s longevity, calling its days “numbered” as far back as 2013. Now, his company MicroStrategy holds more BTC than any other publicly traded firm (over 636,000 coins) and Saylor has personally become its most famous evangelist.

And Mark Cuban spent years calling Bitcoin no different from bananas and raising doubts about its utility. Today, he’s an active participant in the crypto and NFT ecosystems, holding Bitcoin and advising blockchain companies. In other words? Eventually, everyone understands Bitcoin.

Governments join the fold

If the world’s biggest names can change their minds, so can entire governments. According to the Visual Capitalist, the United States is now the largest holder of Bitcoin, with China following closely.

Bitcoin holdings (Source: Visual Capitalist)

These holdings are often the result of law enforcement seizures or strategic mining, but the fact remains: global governments hold thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of bitcoins, quietly shifting from outright bans to accumulation and research.

Bitcoin’s path to mainstream acceptance has been paved with resistance and then recognition. Whether driven by economic imperatives, technological curiosity, or simply the fear of missing out, figures like Jamie Dimon and Donald Trump have finally come to the same realization: Bitcoin is here, and it is inevitable; even governments now hold Bitcoin as part of their strategic reserves.

What was once met with skepticism and doubt is now universally accepted at the highest level, proving Pompliano right that, despite the resistance, eventually everyone understands Bitcoin.

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