Don’t dismiss bankers' predictions of a bitcoin bubble – they should know

The virtual currency's success reflects the continuing lack of trust in traditional banking following the credit crunch

When the boss of Wall Street's biggest bank calls a bubble, the world inevitably sits up and listens, albeit with a sense of historically weighted irony: of course an investment bank boss would spot disaster after his industry presided over the last one. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan, said last week that the ascendancy of the virtual currency bitcoin - which has risen in price from just over $2 in 2011 to more than $4,000 at points this year - reminded him of tulip fever in 17th-century Holland. "It is worse than tulip bulbs," he said. "It could be at $20,000 before this happens, but it will eventually blow up. I am just shocked that anyone can't see it for what it is."

Dimon's comments are an open invitation for derision from those who, rightly, point out that although JP Morgan may be top of the Wall Street heap, that heap is far from being the moral high ground. Under Dimon's leadership, it has agreed a $13bn settlement with US regulators over selling dodgy mortgage securities - the instruments behind the credit crunch - and its run-ins with watchdogs include a $264m fine last year for hiring the children of Chinese officials in order to win lucrative business in return.