JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said banks want stablecoin issuers that pay interest on customer balances to be subject to the same rules as traditional lenders, sharpening the ongoing debate over U.S. crypto legislation.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Dimon addressed reported tensions with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who withdrew his support for the CLARITY bill just a day before the Senate Banking Committee vote. Dimon argued that there must be a line between rewards paid on transactions and interest paid on stored balances.
“The rewards are the same as the interest,” Dimon said. “If you’re 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 transaction-related rewards, he said. But companies that operate as depository institutions would have to 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.
“A level playing field for every product,” he said, arguing that companies offering similar financial services should operate under similar oversight. Without this parity, he warned, risks could accumulate outside the regulated system. Armstrong, for his part, said he thinks banks should instead be forced to be competitive.
Dimon stressed, however, that JPMorgan supports 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 are pro-competition,” he said. “But it has to be fair and balanced.”
He also highlighted the greater compliance burden banks bear, from anti-money laundering controls to community lending obligations. These requirements, he said, are intended 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 consider how to regulate digital assets without pushing activity into less transparent corners of the market. Lawmakers are reviewing new draft text circulated 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 a yield on customer balances.
