Dimon added that JPMorgan will need to up its game to ward off competition from the upstarts, writing: “We need to roll out our own blockchain technology.”
Dimon’s latest comments on blockchain come as the bank has been sparring with the crypto industry in Washington, D.C. over a closely-watched piece of crypto legislation known as the CLARITY Act.
The bill would establish a U.S. regulatory framework for crypto, resolving long-running ambiguities involving the responsibilities of different financial regulators and registration criteria for crypto firms. Proponents of the law argue that clearer crypto rules can protect consumers while reversing a “regulation-by-enforcement” approach that has historically stifled crypto innovation in the U.S.
With more crypto-friendly regulators in charge under the Trump administration, companies in the crypto sector have lately shown a willingness to become more bank-like. A number of crypto firms have received conditional approval for a national trust banking charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. These bank charters, while somewhat narrow, enable crypto firms to do things like custody user assets.
As crypto competitors have become more formidable, JPMorgan has also bolstered its crypto functions. In an investor report penned Monday, the co-CEOs of the firm’s Commercial and Investment Banking division noted that transactions on JPMorgan’s blockchain-based products had grown thirtyfold since 2023.
