- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has called out Coinbase for trying to offer banking services without complying with banking regulations.
- He says his bank and the rest of the industry will fight the CLARITY Act and ensure it does not pass, as it disadvantages regulated lenders.
If you want to be a bank, be ready to be regulated like a bank and stop trying to find workarounds. This is the message JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is sending to Coinbase as the two companies square off on the CLARITY Act.
In an interview with FOX Business, Dimon blasted Coinbase and its CEO, Brian Armstrong, for trying to use the CLARITY Act to become an unlicensed bank. He says that regulations must be fair; “If he wants to take deposits like a bank, he should have bank rules,” Dimon said of Armstrong.
Dimon pointed out that banks must adhere to several requirements, including liquidity, capital, social, AML, financial reporting, and transparency. Coinbase is not complying with any of these, and as such, cannot be allowed to offer the same services as JPMorgan and other banks.
Dimon reiterated that he is not worried about competition from Coinbase or even crypto in general, including the rise of stablecoins. For him, stablecoins are a novel product for smaller use cases like cross-border payments (even though last year, stablecoins surpassed Visa transaction volume at over $46 trillion moved). He says JPMorgan’s deposit token, JPM, is a better alternative.
JPMorgan CEO: We Will Fight The CLARITY Act
Dimon’s dispute with the crypto industry boils down to the CLARITY Act. As we reported, the Act was passed by the Senate Banking Committee and awaits a floor vote; the House has already passed it with overwhelming support.
The CLARITY Act led to heated disputes between crypto companies and the banking ecosystem, with stablecoin yield at the heart of this conflict. Its previous iteration would have allowed stablecoin issuers to offer yield, competing directly with bank deposits. However, it was amended and now only allows yield in instances of stablecoin utility, not passive holding.
Still, the banking sector is opposed. Dimon stated:
“If [CLARITY Act] happens, I will have nothing to do with it, and it will eventually blow up on its own. We will fight it. If we lose, we lose. But it will be fought. No one is going to bow down to this guy [Armstrong] or that company.”
Dimon then took aim at Armstrong individually, alleging that the Coinbase CEO is the sole force behind the CLARITY Act. Dimon alleged Armstrong has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby Washington to pass the Act. On Armstrong’s defence that he is representing the entire crypto industry, Dimon responded:
“He is full of sh*t.”
Armstrong is embracing the rivalry, taking to social media to make light of Dimon’s attack.
https://t.co/T5cMfPPji5 pic.twitter.com/VGwsfF0qCT
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) May 29, 2026
