Coinbase (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong is running into a wall — and it looks a lot like the heads of America’s biggest banks.
During meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Armstrong reportedly approached several Wall Street leaders to discuss the crypto market structure bill moving through Congress, according to a report the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday.
The reception was icy.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told Armstrong, “You are full of s---,” according to people familiar with the exchange who spoke with the WSJ.
Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan sat for a 30-minute meeting but dismissed Armstrong’s position, saying, “If you want to be a bank, just be a bank.” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf refused to engage, saying there was “nothing for them to talk about.” Citigroup’s Jane Fraser gave him under a minute.
The frost comes as Armstrong has turned sharply against the Senate’s crypto bill. After reviewing a draft, he announced on X that Coinbase “can’t support the bill as written.” He later warned that traditional banks were lobbying to protect their turf by targeting stablecoin rewards — recurring payouts to users who hold tokens like USDC.
These rewards function like interest-bearing accounts but typically offer higher yields — up to 3.5%. Banks argue they pose a threat to deposit-based models that fund lending and other core services. If users shift en masse to stablecoins, the impact on local lending and smaller banks could be significant. Armstrong says the answer is simple: compete.
The legislation, known as the CLARITY Act, could determine who gets to offer these products — and under what rules. Its outcome could reset the playing field between banks and crypto platforms.
Still, the line between the two industries isn’t as sharp as the public standoff suggests. Coinbase maintains partnerships with major banks, including JPMorgan and Citi. That makes the current dispute less about total disruption and more about who sets the terms for the next phase of digital finance.
CoinDesk reached out to Coinbase, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup for comment but none was received by press time.
More For You
Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture
Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.
What to know:
Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.
The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.
More For You
Bitcoin is the 'newest, coolest software': Inside Kevin Warsh’s complicated crypto history
The former Federal Reserve governor has invested in crypto firms, criticized bitcoin’s role as money and argued for a U.S. digital dollar.
What to know:


