At the recent World Economic Forum, a disagreement broke out between Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and Brian Armstrong of Coinbase
$2.19B
The Wall Street Journal reported that Dimon interrupted Armstrong during a coffee conversation with Tony Blair.
Dimon allegedly told Armstrong to stop “lying” about banks blocking progress on the digital asset market structure bill being reviewed in the US Congress.
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The dispute links to one key issue in the bill: stablecoin rewards. Banking groups have opposed allowing these rewards, while many in the crypto industry, including Armstrong, support them.
Armstrong argued that banning stablecoin yield would give traditional banks the power to shut out competition.
Other banking executives at Davos also seemed unsympathetic. Brian Moynihan of Bank of America told Armstrong, “If you want to be a bank, just be a bank”. Charlie Scharf of Wells Fargo declined to discuss the topic altogether.
The digital asset market structure bill passed the House of Representatives in July and has since moved to the Senate. The proposal continues to face resistance from Democratic lawmakers over ethics rules, as well as from both banking and crypto lobbyists concerned about its possible impact on their industries.
Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, told the Wall Street Journal that the disagreement over rewards does not reflect the company’s usual relationship with banks.
Recently, the UK’s advertising regulator has reportedly banned several Coinbase ads. What happened? Read the full story.
