At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong ran into a frosty reception from the chiefs of America’s biggest banks as he tried to press his case on the Senate’s crypto market-structure bill, according to the Wall Street Journal. Armstrong reportedly sought meetings with several Wall Street leaders to discuss the CLARITY Act, which could shape who is allowed to offer stablecoin products and under what rules. The response was terse. People familiar with the exchanges told the WSJ that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon bluntly told Armstrong, “You are full of s---.” Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan gave Armstrong about 30 minutes but dismissed his position with, “If you want to be a bank, just be a bank.” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf declined to engage, saying there was “nothing for them to talk about,” and Citigroup’s Jane Fraser spent less than a minute with him. The confrontation comes after Armstrong publicly rejected a draft of the CLARITY Act. Posting on X, he said Coinbase “can’t support the bill as written.” He’s argued that traditional banks are lobbying to curb “stablecoin rewards” — recurring payouts to holders of tokens like USDC that function like interest-bearing accounts and can offer yields as high as about 3.5%. Banks say those higher yields could siphon deposits away from the traditional banking system, undermining deposit-funded lending and other community banking services if customers migrate to crypto platforms en masse. Armstrong’s rebuttal: let crypto platforms and banks compete. The stakes are high. If enacted in its current form, the CLARITY Act could determine which firms can provide stablecoin yield products and under what regulatory framework — potentially reshaping competition between legacy banks and crypto firms. Still, the showdown in Davos masks a more complex reality: Coinbase maintains business relationships with major banks, including partnerships with JPMorgan and Citi. The dispute appears less like an outright break and more a battle over who will set the terms for the next phase of digital finance. CoinDesk reached out to Coinbase, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup for comment; none had responded by press time. The initial report was published by the Wall Street Journal. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news