JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Friday once again sharply criticized Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, warning that the latest version of the Clarity Act could ultimately fail if lawmakers don’t address concerns from traditional banks over stablecoin regulation.
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business, Dimon seemed frustrated with the direction of the debate surrounding stablecoins and digital asset legislation. Asked if he was satisfied with the current draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the crypto market structure bill that will formalize the rules surrounding how federal securities and commodities regulators oversee crypto, Dimon said he was not.
“No, because it allows them to effectively pay interest on deposits, stablecoins or something like that, without the protection they should have,” Dimon said. “The banks won’t accept it that way. … I’m not worried about stablecoins, but if that happened, I’m telling you I don’t want anything to do with it and it will eventually explode.”
The comments come amid a growing rift between the banking industry and crypto firms as lawmakers prepare for a key markup process that will determine whether the Clarity Act can advance through Congress. Lawmakers are expected to continue negotiating provisions on stablecoin issuers, consumer protections, reserve requirements and whether crypto companies should be allowed to offer yield-bearing products similar to traditional bank accounts.
For the legislation to ultimately become law, it must clear the entire Senate and House of Representatives and be signed by President Donald Trump. The Senate Banking Committee advanced its version of the bill through a markup earlier this month, and the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its own version earlier this year. Currently, representatives from the two committees are merging the bills, an important step before the full Senate can take a look.
At the center of the dispute that dragged out the Banking Committee process is the issue of stablecoin rewards. Armstrong and Coinbase have argued that traditional banks are pushing lawmakers to curb stablecoin rewards programs, which work similarly to high-interest savings accounts and could threaten the banks’ deposit-based business models. Bank executives, meanwhile, argue that companies offering bank-like products should face comparable supervisory and regulatory obligations.
The disagreement has become one of the primary reasons why legislation has stalled in Washington and failed to gain sufficient momentum earlier this year, despite broad bipartisan interest in creating a regulatory framework for digital assets.
Tensions between Armstrong and Wall Street executives have been growing for months. During meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, Dimon told Armstrong, “You’re full of s—,” according to people familiar with the exchange who spoke to The Wall Street Journal.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan reportedly dismissed Armstrong’s arguments, telling him, “If you want to be a bank, just be a bank.” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf declined to engage, while Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser spent less than a minute with him, according to the earlier reporting.
Coinbase and JPMorgan did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
