JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said banks want stablecoin issuers that pay interest on customer balances to face the same rules as traditional lenders, sharpening an ongoing debate over U.S. crypto legislation.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Dimon addressed reported tensions with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who pulled 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 line between rewards paid on transactions and interest paid on stored balances.
“Rewards are the same as interest,” Dimon said. “If you are going to be holding balances and paying interest, that’s the bank. You should be regulated by a bank.”
Banks would accept a compromise in which crypto platforms offer rewards tied to transactions, he said. But firms that function like deposit-taking institutions should meet the same standards as banks, including capital and liquidity rules, anti-money laundering controls and federal deposit insurance requirements.
Dimon framed the issue as one of fairness and safety.
“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 build outside the regulated system. Armstrong, on the other hand, has said he believes that banks should be forced to compete instead.
Dimon, however, stressed that JPMorgan does support competition and uses blockchain in its own operations. The bank has developed a deposit token and processes payments and data transfers on distributed ledger systems. “We’re in favor of competition,” he said. “But it’s got to be fair and balanced.”
He also pointed to the broader compliance burden banks carry, from anti-money laundering checks to community lending obligations. Those requirements, he said, are designed to protect the financial system.
“For the safety of the system, not just 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 pushing activity into less transparent corners of the market. Lawmakers are reviewing new draft language circulated by the White House, though the banking and crypto industries have yet to reach agreement on whether stablecoin issuers should be allowed to offer yield on customer balances.