A cryptocurrency start-up took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal to troll Jamie Dimon

A cryptocurrency start-up took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal to troll Jamie Dimon

CNBC
Arjun Kharpal
CNBCOctober 11, 2017

A cryptocurrency start-up took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal to troll Jamie Dimon
Getty Images. Dimon called bitcoin a "fraud" and said he would fire employees who traded it.

A cryptocurrency start-up has taken out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal to take a dig at JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who recently called bitcoin a "fraud".

Switzerland-based start-up Eidoo launched Wednesday and bills itself as a digital wallet for people to hold ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. It has plans to launch a debit card to spend both ethereum and bitcoin as well as an exchange to trade both.The WSJ ad, which is a clear public relations stunt as the company launches, reads: "Maybe Jamie will fire you. But, you'll be free to trade in the crypto-world."

Eidoo is taking aim at Dimon's comments on bitcoin in which he called it a "fraud" and said that he'd "fire in a second" any JPMorgan trader who was trading bitcoin because "it's against our rules and they are stupid."

The start-ups stunt likely did not come cheap. A full page ad in the WSJ costs near $250,000, according to the newspaper.But it's a way for the company to try and cut through the noise currently in the cryptocurrency world.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like ethereum have seen huge rallies this year, thanks to rising interest from institutional investors, and some favorable regulation in countries like Japan.

But the crypto world has received a lot of criticism too. While Dimon hit out against bitcoin, others have taken aim at initial coin offerings (ICOs), which is a way for start-ups to raise money through cryptocurrencies. Wikipedia founder
Jimmy Wales told CNBC in a recent interview that ICOs are an "absolute scam."

Still, there are a lot of people talking up the potential of bitcoin. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, former hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz told CNBC he can see bitcoin heading over $10,000 in six to 10 months.