Tyler Winklevoss accuses JPMorgan Chase: Financial giants are trying to suppress the development of cryptocurrencies
The conflict between the cryptocurrency industry and traditional financial institutions on Wall Street has escalated again. Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of the Gemini exchange, recently publicly accused JPMorgan Chase (JPMorgan) of trying to "stifle fintech and cryptocurrency companies" through charging fees on social media.
The core of this dispute focuses on the competition for access to bank customer data: JPMorgan Chase plans to charge fees for third-party applications to obtain customer data through APIs; Winklevoss believes that this practice will seriously hinder users from connecting bank accounts to cryptocurrency exchanges.
The timing of this dispute is quite delicate, because in October last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) established rules under the Dodd-Frank Act that banks must provide customer data to third parties free of charge, but the bank immediately filed a lawsuit. The case is currently under trial, and the CFPB proposed to revoke the rule under the instructions of the Trump administration. Critics believe that this provides motivation for JPMorgan Chase to promote a paid model.
In general, this fee dispute has a significant impact because exchanges including Gemini, Coinbase and Kraken rely on third parties (data aggregators such as Plaid) to connect to bank accounts for free to achieve fiat currency deposit channels. Once the fee model is implemented, the cost may be passed on to users, increasing the operating pressure of the industry.
Winklevoss also raised the matter to a political level, accusing JPMorgan Chase of acting contrary to the Trump administration's vision of building a "crypto capital".
This conflict reveals the deep-seated contradictions between the traditional financial sector and the cryptocurrency ecosystem. John Deaton, a lawyer who supports cryptocurrencies, pointed out that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon once called Bitcoin a "scam" and pointed out that the bank has accumulated $40 billion in compliance fines in history. Venture capitalist David Sacks used the word "worrying" to describe the current situation.
In summary, as the US regulatory policy on digital assets becomes clearer, the current dispute over data access rights may become a key factor. This result will not only affect user growth, but will also have a profound impact on the future direction of the entire cryptocurrency industry.
