Brian Armstrong fired Jamie Dimon on Friday with a meme, after the JPMorgan CEO attacked him on live TV.
Summary
- Jamie Dimon appeared on Fox Business on May 29, calling Armstrong “full of sh!t” and vowing that banks will fight the Clarity Act’s stablecoin provisions.
- Armstrong responded to X with a hockey-themed meme showing him and Dimon facing off, while Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz publicly supported Armstrong.
- Dimon’s main objection is that the Clarity Act allows crypto firms to effectively pay interest on stablecoin deposits regardless of the bank’s rate.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a competitive hockey-themed meme on X on Friday, hours after JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon appeared on Fox Business. Morning with Maria and called Armstrong “full of sh!t” for his push for a Digital Goods Specification Act.
The exchange escalated a months-long public dispute between Wall Street’s biggest banker and the top crypto exchange chief, now focused on a single sticking point: whether crypto platforms should be allowed to pay yields on stablecoin balances without submitting to banking-style regulation.
What the Demon says and what it means
Appearing on Fox Business on May 29, Dimon said: “It allows cryptocurrency firms to effectively pay interest on deposits, stablecoins or something like that, without the protection they should have. Banks won’t accept it that way.” He warned the plan would “explode” if passed as written, and accused Armstrong of spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Washington to push the bill. “No one is going to bow to this guy,” Dimon said.
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz joined in on the response to X, writing: “Since when do banks decide by law?” Novogratz argued that lawmakers, not financial institutions, should decide the framework for digital assets.
The conflict between Dimon and Armstrong is not new. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026, Dimon reportedly told Armstrong outright that he was “full of sh!t” in a private meeting that included former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan reportedly told Armstrong in Davos: “If you want to be a bank, just be a bank.” Coinbase withdrew its support for the Clarity Act in January after a Senate panel included provisions that would have effectively banned yields on stablecoin balances, a reversal that forced Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott to cancel a planned vote.
By May, a consensus had emerged allowing performance-based rewards while banning performance-based rewards. As crypto.news reported, Armstrong supported the revised bill before the Senate Banking Committee markup on May 14, which advanced the law 15 to 9. Despite that progress, Dimon’s comments on Friday indicated that JPMorgan and affiliated banks intend to reverse the low vote.
At Coinbase, the stakes are straight. Coinbase reported $1.35 billion in stablecoin revenue by 2025, making the yield provisions a fluctuating revenue stream as policy favors. Galaxy Research head Alex Thorn currently gives the Clarity Act a 70% chance of passing before the August recess, while traders at Polymarket have it at 61%. Dimon’s public opposition, backed by the weight of America’s largest bank, added to the institutional conflict at the same time as the bill’s floor timeline was pressed hard.
