JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Friday that the United States should focus on stockpiling guns, ammunition, and drones—not bitcoin—as part of a serious national defense strategy. Speaking at the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum in California, Dimon emphasized that industrial policy should align with national security priorities.
“We shouldn’t be stockpiling bitcoins,” Dimon said during a panel discussion. “We should be stockpiling guns, bullets, tanks, planes, drones, rare earths—you know, the things we actually need. It’s not a mystery.”
Bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency, functions outside the control of banks and governments. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a federal Bitcoin reserve, calling it a “virtual Fort Knox for digital gold.”
But Dimon wasn’t impressed.
“We should be stockpiling bullets,” he reiterated. “Military folks will tell you—if there’s a conflict in the South China Sea, we’ve got missiles for maybe seven days. Come on. We can’t say that with a straight face and pretend it’s acceptable. We know what to do—we just need to get organized, roll up our sleeves, have the debates, and get moving.”
Dimon spoke during a fireside chat at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, where the conversation touched on the economy, geopolitical tensions, and national preparedness in an era marked by wars, proxy conflicts, and nuclear threats.
He warned that the greatest threat to the United States might not come from abroad.
“I’m not that worried about China,” Dimon said. “They’re a potential adversary, sure—they’re doing a lot of things right, but they’ve got serious problems too. What I really worry about is us: our values, our capabilities, our management. Can we get our own act together?”
Dimon said he’s frequently asked whether the U.S. will retain its role as the global reserve currency.
“The answer is: not if we’re no longer the top military and the top economy in 40 years. That’s just history. If we lose that edge, we lose reserve status. Period.”
He described the federal government as a kind of “Leviathan”—big but ineffectual—imposing policies on the public while failing to implement meaningful reforms.
Instead, Dimon urged Americans to reconnect with national ideals.
“We need to celebrate our virtues: freedom of speech, religion, enterprise, equal opportunity, family, God, country,” he said. “Yes, acknowledge our flaws—what we did to the Black population, for example—but don’t conflate that with denigrating the greatness of this nation. Those are two different conversations.”
He added that internal dysfunction—“the enemy within”—is the most pressing danger.
“We don’t talk to each other. We don’t deal with our policies. We’ve got to fix permitting, regulation, immigration, taxation—I do think we’re making progress. But we’ve also got to fix our inner-city schools, our health care system. That’s the real work.”
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