Dimon argues for a uniform regulatory framework to govern reward-bearing digital assets and traditional bank products.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he welcomes competition and advances in blockchain technology but stressed that stablecoin rewards should operate under a level regulatory playing field.
Addressing reported tensions with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong over crypto market structure legislation and the question of whether exchanges should be permitted to offer stablecoin rewards, Dimon said that banks consider those rewards to be the equivalent of paying interest on deposits.
He added that any company holding customer funds and offering interest is effectively acting as a bank and should face the same regulatory standards.
“A compromise would be that you could pay rewards on transactions, not balances. If you are going to be holding balances and paying interest, that’s the bank. You should be regulated by a bank,” said Dimon during a Monday appearance on CNBC’s ‘The Exchange.’
The longtime JPMorgan leader outlined the regulatory burdens financial institutions face, including FDIC insurance, anti-money laundering rules, capital and liquidity requirements, and community lending obligations.
He argued that allowing non-bank firms to offer bank-like products without similar oversight would create an uneven playing field and potentially harm consumers.
“Level playing field by product,” Dimon said. “It can’t be you have these people doing one thing without any regulation like that and these people do another.”
The Senate’s market-structure push cleared a key hurdle on January 29, when the Senate Agriculture Committee, led by Chairman John Boozman, advanced its portion of the bill in a narrow 12-11 vote, largely along party lines.
The legislation must still clear the Senate Banking Committee before the two committee versions can be merged into a single package for a full Senate floor vote.
The framework aims to draw a bright line between the SEC and CFTC jurisdictions, mandates customer fund segregation and proof-of-reserve requirements, and coordinates stablecoin oversight with the GENIUS Act.
