Jamie Dimon escalated his feud with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on Friday, claiming that the crypto mogul was “full of s–t” as he vowed that big banks will fight crypto-market legislation moving through Congress.
The tough-talking JPMorgan CEO warned that America’s biggest lenders “will not accept” the current version of the Clarity Act, a bill that aims to plug regulatory black holes in the digital asset industry.
Dimon has argued crypto platforms such as Coinbase should be regulated like banks. The firm poured $75 million into the 2024 election and holds roughly $193 million in its super PAC war chest, making it one of the best-funded political forces in the country.
“No one’s going to bow down to this guy, or that company,” he said, referring to Armstrong and Coinbase. “He’s the only one, and he’s spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Washington on this thing.”
The Wall Street veteran’s ire has largely been focused on whether crypto exchanges like Coinbase — the biggest in America — can pay interest on stablecoins.
Crypto players say it supercharges the product, but banks warn it creates fake bank deposits without any real safeguards.
Coinbase and other platforms pay holders of dollar-pegged tokens such as USDC roughly 3.5%, far above the near-zero rates banks offer on checking accounts.
Banks contend that those payouts are economically indistinguishable from interest on deposits and could trigger a mass flight of consumer funds out of the banking system, leaving community lenders unable to fund local businesses.
Armstrong came under fire in January for pulling his support for an earlier version of the bill.
“This legislation does not take sides between traditional finance and new technology,” Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.), chair of the banking committee, said after the bill was approved.