JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said banks want stablecoin issuers that pay interest on customer balances to face the same rules as traditional lenders, heightening an ongoing debate over US crypto legislation.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Dimon addressed reported tensions with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who withdrew his support for the proposed CLARITY Act just one day before the Senate Banking Committee was scheduled to vote on it. Dimon argued that there needs to be a dividing line between rewards paid on transactions and interest paid on stored balances.
“Rewards are the same as interest,” Dimon said. “If you’re going to carry balances and pay interest, that’s the bank. You should be regulated by a bank.”
Banks would accept a compromise where crypto platforms offered rewards tied to transactions, he said. But companies that operate as depository institutions should meet the same standards as banks, including capital and liquidity rules, anti-money laundering controls, and federal deposit insurance requirements.
Dimon raised the issue as a question of justice and security.
“Level playing field by product,” he said, arguing that companies offering similar financial services should operate under similar oversight. Without that parity, he warned, risks could accumulate outside the regulated system. Armstrong, on the other hand, has said he believes banks should be forced to compete.
Dimon, however, emphasized that JPMorgan supports competition and uses blockchain in its own operations. The bank has developed a deposit token and processes payments and data transfers in distributed ledger systems. “We are in favor of competition,” he said. “But it has to be fair and balanced.”
He also pointed to the broader compliance burden banks bear, from anti-money laundering controls to community lending obligations. Those requirements, he said, are designed to protect the financial system.
“For the security of the system, not just for the fairness of competition,” Dimon said.
The debate over stablecoin oversight has become a central issue in Washington as lawmakers weigh how to regulate digital assets without driving activity to less transparent corners of the market. Lawmakers are reviewing a new draft distributed by the White House, although the banking and crypto industries have yet to reach an agreement on whether stablecoin issuers should be allowed to offer yield on customer balances.
