Coinbase CEO slams JPMorgan for banning crypto payments in UK, suggests government should act
Brian Armstrong, chief executive officer of Coinbase Global Inc., speaks during the Messari Mainnet summit in New York, on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is unhappy with JPMorgan Chase’s decision to block crypto-related transactions at its U.K. digital banking subsidiary, Chase UK.
Chase UK earlier this week put out a notice to customers saying it will no longer allow its customers to purchase cryptocurrencies using its debit cards or through bank transfers, citing concerns over the risk of fraud to users from digital tokens.
The bank, which has operated as a standalone entity in the U.K. since 2021, said it was taking the step because “fraudsters are increasingly using crypto assets to steal large sums of money from people.”
“Once in a while we see a bank in the world that decides they want to de-platform this whole industry,” Armstrong said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.
“I don’t think that’s OK. I don’t think that’s the rule of things in our society. I think the government should decide what is allowed and what’s not.”
The move from Chase UK has not happened in a vacuum. Other British lenders have taken similar steps to bar crypto transactions, citing the risk of fraud.
Examples include NatWest, which placed limits on the amount of cash that can be sent to crypto exchanges, and HSBC, which banned crypto purchases altogether.
Crypto fraud concerns
In its note to customers Tuesday, Chase UK said that it was blocking the use of crypto by its customers due to concerns over a rise in fraud.
Data from Action Fraud, the U.K. fraud reporting agency, shows that U.K. consumer losses to crypto fraud increased by over 40% in the last year, surpassing £300 million for the first time.
Bitcoin, ether, XRP and other cryptocurrencies are not legal currency.
Originally created as an alternative, online form of money meant to bypass the need for bank accounts and other financial middlemen, they have increasingly been embraced by mainstream financial institutions such as PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard.
But they have long been associated with illicit activities such as money laundering, terrorist financing and illegal gambling, not least due to their pseudonymous nature.
The people transacting in bitcoin and other digital currencies don’t disclose their real identity, making it harder for banks to trace them for suspicious payments versus digital fiat currency transactions.
Legitimizing crypto
Nevertheless, crypto’s proponents say that the industry has matured a great deal in the wake of the collapse of FTX and numerous other scandals. They say it can become part of everyday payments and trading in a way that is legitimate.
For its part, the U.K. has been working to develop legislation that would regulate retail trading in crypto assets.
The Financial Services and Markets Bill is one example of legislation that already includes some provisions on cryptocurrency. That specific law aims to bring crypto assets into the regulatory fold. But it is not a comprehensive law addressing crypto through tailored laws.
In an interview with CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith said the U.K. could pass a crypto-specific law by April 2024.
Jurisdictions around the world from Dubai to Singapore have been trying to position themselves as crypto-friendly places to encourage firms to set up shop there.
The U.S., meanwhile, has taken a hard line on cryptocurrency firms with its regulators stepping up enforcement action against companies.
Armstrong suggested that the U.K. government should take heed of Chase UK’s move to ban crypto payments — though he acknowledged the country’s ambition to become a “Web3 and crypto hub.”
“The government in the U.K. through [U.K. PM] Rishi Sunak and Andrew Griffith the city minister in London have it made clear they want to make the U.K. a Web3 and crypto hub,” Armstrong said.
“They are trying to attract businesses there. I was disappointed to see Chase UK’s stance on that. I hope that was a misunderstanding that will be clarified in the coming weeks.”
WATCH: Coinbase CEO joins entrepreneurs on Capitol Hill to push for clear crypto rules: CNBC Crypto World
The Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, June 9, 2023.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Silicon Valley executives and financiers publicly opened their wallets in support of President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential run. The early returns in 2025 aren’t great, to say the least.
Following Trump’s sweeping tariff plan announced Wednesday, the Nasdaq suffered steep consecutive daily drops to finish 10% lower for the week, the index’s worst performance since the beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
The tech industry’s leading CEO’s rushed to contribute to Trump’s inauguration in January and paraded to Washington, D.C., for the event. Since then, it’s been a slog.
The market can always turn around, but economists and investors aren’t optimistic, and concerns are building of a potential recession. The seven most valuable U.S. tech companies lost a combined $1.8 trillion in market cap in two days.
Apple slid 14% for the week, its biggest drop in more than five years. Tesla, led by top Trump adviser Elon Musk, plunged 9.2% and is now down more than 40% for the year. Musk contributed close to $300 million to help propel Trump back to the White House.
Nvidia, Meta and Amazon all suffered double-digit drops for the week. For Amazon, a ninth straight weekly decline marks its longest such losing streak since 2008.
With Wall Street selling out of risky assets on concern that widespread tariff hikes will punish the U.S. and global economy, the fallout has drifted down to the IPO market. Online lender Klarna and ticketing marketplace StubHub delayed their IPOs due to market turbulence, just weeks after filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and fintech company Chime is also reportedly delaying its listing.
CoreWeave, a provider of artificial intelligence infrastructure, last week became the first venture-backed company to raise more than $1 billion in a U.S. IPO since 2021. But the company slashed its offering, and trading has been very volatile in its opening days on the market. The stock plunged 12% on Friday, leaving it 17% above its offer price but below the bottom of its initial range.
“You couldn’t create a worse market and macro environment to go public,” said Phil Haslett, co-founder of EquityZen, a platform for investing in private companies. “Way too much turbulence. All flights are grounded until further notice.”
CoreWeave investor Mark Klein of SuRo Capital previously told CNBC that the company could be the first in an “IPO parade.” Now he’s backtracking.
“It appears that the IPO parade has been temporarily halted,” Klein told CNBC by email on Friday. “The current tariff situation has prompted these companies to pause and assess its impact.”
‘Cave rapidly’
During last year’s presidential campaign, prominent venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen backed Trump, expecting that his administration would usher in a boom and eliminate some of the hurdles to startup growth set up by the Biden administration. Andreessen and his partner, Ben Horowitz, said in July that their financial support of the Trump campaign was due to what they called a better “little tech agenda.”
A spokesperson for Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment.
Some techies who supported Trump in the campaign have taken to social media to defend their positions.
Venture capitalist Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures, posted on X on Thursday that “Trump Derangement Syndrome has morphed into Tariff Derangement Syndrome.” He said tariffs aren’t inflationary, are effective at reducing fentanyl imports, and he expects that “most other countries will cave and cave rapidly.”
That was before China’s Finance Ministry said on Friday that it will impose a 34% tariff on all goods imported from the U.S. starting on April 10.
At Sequoia Capital, which is the biggest investor in Klarna, outspoken Trump supporter Shaun Maguire, wrote on X, “The first long-term thinking President of my lifetime,” and said in a separate post that, “The price of stocks says almost nothing about the long term health of an economy.”
However, Allianz Chief Economic Advisor Mohamed El-Erian warned on Friday that Trump’s extensive raft of import tariffs are putting the U.S. economy at risk of recession.
“You’ve had a major repricing of growth prospects, with a recession in the U.S. going up to 50% probability, you’ve seen an increase in inflation expectations, up to 3.5%,” he told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy.
Former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates, left, and Steve Ballmer, center, pose for photos with CEO Satya Nadella during an event celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Microsoft on April 4, 2025 in Redmond, Washington.
Stephen Brashear | Getty Images
Meanwhile, executives at tech’s megacap companies were largely silent this week, and their public relations representatives declined to provide comments about their thinking.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was in the awkward position on Friday of celebrating his company’s 50th anniversary at corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Alongside Microsoft’s prior two CEOs, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Nadella sat down with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin for a televised interview that was planned well before Trump’s tariff announcement.
When asked about the tariffs at the top of the interview, Nadella effectively dodged the question and avoided expressing his views about whether the new policies will hamper Microsoft’s business.
Ballmer, who was succeeded by Nadella in 2014, acknowledged to Sorkin that “disruption is very hard on people” and that, “as a Microsoft shareholder, this kind of thing is not good.” Ballmer and Gates are two of the 12 wealthiest people in the world thanks to their Microsoft fortunes.
C-suites may not be able to stay quiet for long, especially if the recent turmoil spills into next week.
Lise Buyer, who previously helped guide Google through its IPO and now works as an adviser to companies going public, said there’s no appetite for risk in the market under these conditions. But there is risk that staffers get jittery, and they’ll surely look to their leaders for some reassurance.
“Until markets settle out and we have the opportunity to access valuation levels, public company CEOs should work to calm potentially distressed employees,” Buyer said in an email. “And private company managements should refine plans to get by on dollars already in the treasury.”
— CNBC’s Hayden Field, Jordan Novet, Leslie Picker, Annie Palmer and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.
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