JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon rags on Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s crypto lobbying push: ‘He’s full of shit’

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon had some choice words for Coinbase (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong after months of their firms clashing over a major crypto bill.

A rule on offering interest on dollar-pegged stablecoins, tucked into the Clarity Act, has been a thorn in the banking industry’s side. During a wide-ranging interview on “Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria,” Dimon accused Armstrong and Coinbase of using that rule as a form of regulatory arbitrage to compete against full-charter US banks.

When asked if he’s happy about how the Clarity Act is shaping up, Dimon answered, “No.” The bill is currently headed for a full Senate vote after passing through the Senate Banking Committee earlier this month.

“We’ll fight it. If we lose, we lose, and we’ll live,” Dimon said.

Coinbase and CEO Armstrong have said they fought against banking interests in DC over the bill’s stablecoin rule to defend the crypto industry. When Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo mentioned this point to Dimon, the longtime bank chief added, “He’s full of shit.”

“If he wants to be a bank, be a bank,” Dimon said. “No one is going to bow down to this guy, OK, or that company,” Dimon said. “He’s the only one, and he’s spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Washington on this thing.”

In response to Dimon’s comments, Armstrong later on Friday posted a popular meme known as ‘heated rivalry’ that features he and Dimon squaring in a hockey match.

The clash centers on whether crypto platforms should be permitted to offer yield to their customers’ stablecoin holdings. Dimon opined that firms that want to act like a bank should go through the myriad of regulations that banks are subject to.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told Armstrong this point during a conversation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year.

Crypto firms, particularly Coinbase, see the ability to pay interest as a crucial part of their growth engines. They argue it’s a net positive for consumers, but the banking industry worries it closely resembles bank-like products, such as a high-yield savings account.

In an emailed statement, Coinbase chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad said “at the end of the day, we all share the same goal: improving the financial lives of Americans.”

Shirzad added that “millions of Americans believe this includes preserving rewards programs and passing clear rules that protect consumers while keeping America at the forefront of financial innovation.”

Read more: How stablecoins work

It’s far from clear how much stablecoin usage in payments will grow in the coming years, or whether the proliferation of digital assets will suck deposits from US banks.

There’s plenty of debate on that front.

The Bank Policy Institute, a key banking advocate in Washington, D.C., has argued that at a $4 trillion market size, stablecoins could cause bank deposits to fall an estimated 19%. That could curtail roughly $2.7 trillion in lending.

The bill currently has the stablecoin rule intact. Armstrong previously rejected a January draft of the bill, prompting weeks of talks where the White House served as a mediator. Eventually, lawmakers landed on a compromise proposal. It aimed to ban interest payments on idle stablecoin balances while permitting carve-outs for transaction-based activities.

Dimon and banking industry trade groups haven’t been happy with the current proposal. Earlier this month, the American Bankers Association and five other bank trade groups called for further “tightening” of the stablecoin yield rule. They argued the bill’s current language permits loopholes that allow crypto platforms to continue paying yields on idle customer balances.

On the other hand, the White House argued in an April report that fears of deposit flight from banks over stablecoins are overstated. Additionally, the benefits to consumers of allowing yield outweigh a more marginal reduction in bank lending capacity.

Earlier this week, Coinbase, meanwhile, introduced a new direct deposit product earlier this year that advertises a 3.5% interest yield on balances of Circle’s USDC (USDC-USD) stablecoin. A person familiar with Dimon’s thinking said the root of his agitation was likely tied to the release of this product ahead of the Senate vote and after months of negotiations with lawmakers.

The stablecoin issue isn’t the only roadblock in passing the Clarity Act. Democratic senators have called for ethics provisions to be added to the bill. They aim to address Donald Trump and his family’s ties to the crypto industry, which have significantly deepened since the president entered the White House.

However, President Trump is adamant about the bill’s passage.

“Under my Leadership, we will codify a FUTURE-PROOF Digital Asset Market Structure that cannot be undone by the Crypto Haters. The new Frontier of Finance is being Built in America, and “TRUMP” will NEVER let Crypto down!,” the president wrote this week in a Truth Social post.

The bill is expected to be put to a vote on the Senate floor sometime in the coming weeks. With the midterm election season approaching, D.C. insiders are looking at early August as the deadline to pass the legislation.

Updated with Armstrong’s response.

David Hollerith is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance covering the cryptocurrency and stock markets. Follow him on X at @DsHollers.

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