JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon issued an unfiltered, aggressive warning against a new crypto-friendly bill moving through Congress while also targeting Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s multimillion-dollar lobbying push.
In a wide-ranging interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on Friday, Dimon was asked for his thoughts on the CLARITY Act, which aims to establish clear regulatory guidelines in the U.S. for digital assets and stablecoins.
Dimon then rejected Coinbase’s messaging that its lobbying represents broad consumer interests, promising an all-out industry “fight” on Capitol Hill.
“We’ll fight it. If we lose, we lose and we’ll live,” Dimon said. “But it will be fought… No one’s going to bow down to this guy, OK? Or that company… And he’s spending hundreds of millions of dollars… He’s full of s–t.”
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“Just be fair. If he takes deposits like a bank, he should have bank rules. We have social requirements, litigation, legal liquidity requirements, capital requirements, AML requirements, financial reporting requirements, transparency requirements,” he continued. “If he wants to be a bank, be a bank. That’s all it is.”
Dimon argued that if crypto platforms want to act like banks and take customer deposits, they must play by the exact same rules.
“And they’re not FDIC-insured. We have requirements to build branches in lower-income neighborhoods… We have like 84 regulators all over us. We’re just saying it should be fair and equal, period. Not that they can’t do what they want to do,” Dimon said. “If you want to buy cryptocurrency, be my guest. You know, I believe it’s a free country, and I defend that right. But we just want it to be fair.”
When asked if he’s “happy” with the legislative language of the CLARITY Act, Dimon responded: “No, because it allows them to effectively pay interest on deposits, stablecoins or something like that, without the protection that they should have… it has almost no legal protections. So no, the banks will not accept it that way.”
Coinbase did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The CEO of America’s largest bank also warned that decentralized crypto networks risk becoming a preferred pipeline for cartels and human traffickers if Washington doesn’t enforce strict oversight.
“I do think it will be used for cross-border payments, small dollar payments, you know, for person-to-person [transactions],” Dimon said. “Remember, once that money’s in a wallet overseas, it could be in anyone’s wallet. And it goes to a third wallet, a fourth wallet. So the first one may be legitimate, [the] second one may be a sex trafficker. So, you know, it’s complicated and the government needs to do it thoughtfully. If they don’t do it thoughtfully… it’ll be a huge problem.”
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