Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has escalated the fight over US crypto legislation, attacking Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong as the CLARITY Act moves forward. The flashpoint is a clause that restricts paying interest or yield simply for holding a payment stablecoin, or in a way that is economically equivalent to interest on a bank deposit. But recent negotiations created room for what crypto firms describe as activity-based rewards rather than passive yield. That distinction is at the center of the dispute.
Banks argue that if a crypto platform can attach rewards to dollar-linked tokens without being regulated like a bank, it starts to look like deposit-taking by another name. Dimon’s warning is that banks will oppose the bill if that treatment of stablecoin rewards is not changed. So this is no longer just a technical drafting issue. It is a direct fight over whether crypto platforms can offer reward structures that banks say blur the line between payments tools and bank-like products. As the bill advances, the battle is now focused on whether that compromise stays in place or is narrowed further.