CoinDesk
JPMorgan publicly endorsed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Monday, telling Congress that a US regulatory framework for digital assets could help the industry mature, but only if it closes existing gaps rather than create new ones. In a blog post authored by Umar Farooq, global co-head of JP Morgan Payments, and Peter Muriungi, CEO of Digital Assets and Blockchain Solutions, the bank laid out a conditional backing: assets that function like securities should keep following securities laws, regardless of the underlying chain, and decentralized venues that act as exchanges or brokers should meet the same standards for disclosure, market integrity and customer protection as traditional finance.
The bank devoted equal airtime to what it sees as risks. JPMorgan singled out stablecoins and tokenized deposits, urging lawmakers to apply bank-like capital, liquidity and consumer-protection rules to any product that resembles a deposit. The executives warned that rewards or cashback features could lead consumers to assume they hold protections that may not exist, raising the risk of bank-like runs during market stress. The bank also pressed Congress to preserve anti-money-laundering and law-enforcement tools, arguing that broad exemptions for parts of the crypto ecosystem could create blind spots for illicit finance.
Why it matters
The endorsement lands at a politically decisive moment. The Senate Banking Committee has already cleared the Clarity Act, but negotiators are still resolving several unresolved issues, including ethics rules for senior government officials with crypto ties, liability protections for DeFi developers, and the stablecoin yield provision that JPMorgan is now publicly contesting. Industry groups remain optimistic the bill can reach the Senate floor in July, yet analysts warn that a failure to advance it before the August recess would sharply reduce its chances of becoming law this year.
The bank's posture is structurally significant: JPMorgan is signaling it will not oppose a digital-asset framework, only the shape of one.
Frequently asked questions
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What is the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act?
It is pending US legislation to create a federal regulatory framework for digital assets. The Senate Banking Committee has cleared it, and the bill is now being negotiated for a possible floor vote in July before the August recess.
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Why is JPMorgan backing the Clarity Act?
JPMorgan says a federal framework could help the digital-asset industry mature, but only if it closes existing regulatory gaps rather than create new ones and applies the same disclosure, market-integrity and customer-protection standards as traditional finance.
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What is JPMorgan's position on stablecoin yield?
JPMorgan is urging Congress to apply bank-like capital, liquidity and consumer-protection rules to stablecoins and tokenized deposits, and to restrict rewards or cashback features that could let stablecoins compete with deposits without meeting the same standards.
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What unresolved issues remain in the Clarity Act negotiations?
Negotiators are still working through ethics rules for senior government officials with crypto ties, liability protections for DeFi developers, stablecoin yield provisions, and concerns from Senate Agriculture Committee Democrats.
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What happens if the Clarity Act fails to pass before the August recess?
Analysts warn that missing the pre-recess window would sharply reduce its chances of becoming law this year, pushing any US digital-asset framework into 2027 and extending regulatory uncertainty for issuers, custodians and tokenization projects.
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