JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has escalated the banking industry’s fight against the CLARITY Act, saying banks will oppose the bill and sharply attacking Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong over the stablecoin rewards debate.
Dimon said the legislation will be fought, even if banks ultimately lose. He also used unusually direct language toward Armstrong, calling the Coinbase chief “full of shit” as the clash between traditional banks and crypto platforms moves from committee negotiations into a broader public fight.
The comments arrive after the CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee in a 15-9 vote, giving the U.S. crypto market-structure bill its strongest legislative momentum of the year. The bill would create clearer federal rules for digital asset markets, including how crypto platforms register, how digital commodities are supervised, and how responsibilities are divided between the SEC and CFTC.
Stablecoin Rewards Remain The Flashpoint
The dispute centers on stablecoin rewards. Coinbase and other crypto firms have pushed to preserve rewards tied to customer activity, while banks have argued that yield-like payouts on stablecoin balances could compete directly with deposits.
That fight has shaped the CLARITY Act for months. A bipartisan compromise eventually backed by Coinbase would ban passive stablecoin rewards that function like bank deposit interest while allowing rewards tied to platform activity, payments, and transactions.
Banks have not treated that compromise as enough. Major banking groups made a late push to tighten stablecoin-yield rules before the Senate markup, arguing that crypto firms could still design rewards that pull cash away from traditional bank accounts.
Dimon’s latest comments show the fight is not cooling after the committee vote. Banks are still pressing for tougher restrictions, while crypto firms are trying to protect a business model built around stablecoin balances, payments, exchange activity, and rewards.
Coinbase’s USDC Business Is At The Center
Coinbase has a direct financial stake in the outcome because USDC-related revenue is one of its most important business lines. The exchange earns heavily from its partnership with Circle and from customer balances held in USDC-linked products.
That made the CLARITY Act’s rewards language a core issue for Coinbase, not a side dispute. The exchange’s USDC revenue engine depends on keeping stablecoins attractive to users while staying inside whatever restrictions Congress sets for interest, rewards, disclosures, and bank-like activity.
Banks see the same issue from the opposite side. If crypto platforms can offer dollar tokens with rewards, payments, instant settlement, and app-based access, banks risk losing some deposits to stablecoin products that feel more flexible to customers. That concern explains why banking groups have turned stablecoin rewards into one of the hardest parts of the bill.
Senate Floor Fight Gets Harder
The CLARITY Act has already passed one important hurdle, but the Senate floor remains a harder test. The committee vote showed momentum, but it also showed that bipartisan support is still limited. The bill will likely need more Democratic votes to survive a full Senate fight unless leadership finds another path.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins has also backed the bill’s direction, saying the CLARITY Act can give crypto a legal foundation by moving digital asset oversight from agency-by-agency interpretation toward a statutory market-structure framework.
The bank lobby will now focus on the remaining legislative process. Crypto firms will defend the current compromise because a stricter ban on rewards could weaken stablecoin adoption, reduce product flexibility, and cut into exchange economics. Lawmakers also still need to handle DeFi language, anti-illicit-finance provisions, developer protections, custody rules, and SEC-CFTC jurisdiction.
Dimon’s comments make the political divide easier to read. Banks want crypto firms offering deposit-like products to face bank-style rules. Coinbase wants stablecoin rewards and crypto payment products to remain competitive under a market-structure bill built for digital assets.
Bank Opposition Becomes A Public Fight
The CLARITY Act is no longer only a technical market-structure bill moving through committee language. It has become a direct fight over who controls the next layer of dollar payments, customer balances, trading infrastructure, and financial apps.
Dimon’s attack puts JPMorgan openly on the bank side of that fight. Armstrong and Coinbase remain on the other side, arguing that stablecoin products should compete with traditional deposit rails instead of being restricted to protect banks.
The bill’s next stage will show how much influence banks still have over the final text. Preserving the current compromise would leave crypto firms room to build stablecoin rewards around transactions and platform activity. Tighter language would narrow Coinbase’s stablecoin model just as U.S. crypto regulation moves closer to a formal market-structure framework.
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