Banks and Crypto Firms Collide Over Who Controls the Next Settlement Layer
Posted by onejim in /c/CoinEpigraph
AI summary: The conflict between JPMorgan Chase and Coinbase reflects a broader struggle for control over custody, stablecoins, and the infrastructure of capital markets in the emerging digital-asset landscape.
Tensions between JPMorgan Chase leadership and Coinbase underscore a deeper fight over custody, stablecoins, and the future plumbing of capital markets.
By CoinEpigraph Editorial Desk | February 5, 2026
At first glance, the moment reads like theater.
A hallway exchange. Raised voices. A pointed finger.
The kind of scene that makes headlines because it feels personal.
But when Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, reportedly confronted Brian Armstrong of Coinbase during policy discussions around digital-asset legislation, the significance wasn’t emotional.
It was structural.
The Wall Street Journal’s characterization of Armstrong as “enemy number one” on Wall Street may be rhetorical, but it captures something real beneath the phrasing: the largest bank in the country and the largest crypto exchange are no longer operating in parallel systems.
https://coinepigraph.com/banks-crypto-firms-clash-settlement-layer/news/02/2026/