Governments around the world will "crush" bitcoin before long, according to two of the most powerful men on Wall Street, who argue that the only real value in the fast-rising virtual currency is as a tool for criminals and money launderers.

At a conference in Washington on Friday, Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, noted recent moves to curb the circulation of bitcoin in China and an initiative in Japan to launch an electronic currency pegged to the yen.

These were signs of authorities getting a proper grip on virtual currencies, he said, because "they like to know where the money is, who has it, and what you're doing with it".

"A fiat currency is when a government says, this is your legal tender, you have to give it and accept it, and of course the central bank can misuse it and inflate it," said Mr Dimon, who has sat atop the largest US bank by assets for a decade.