Solomon spoke to POLITICO shortly after Republican senators began circulating new text of the bill before a possible floor vote next week. His support comes against a wave of opposition from other bankers — including JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon — who say it would put consumer banks at risk by creating unfair advantages for crypto companies that offer customers yield-based rewards for parking dollar-pegged stablecoins on their platforms.
Dimon publicly upbraided Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in May over the crypto executive’s lobbying on the bill, which is a major priority for digital asset businesses that have spent years — and hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions — pushing for a legal framework tailored to their markets. Several of the most influential groups in Washington — the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, Consumer Bankers Association, Financial Services Forum, Independent Community Bankers of America and National Bankers Association — published a statement on Wednesday saying Clarity’s stablecoin provision poses a risk to “the local lending that drives economic activity in the U.S.”
Solomon said he wasn’t going to comment on other bankers’ views on the bill.
“Goldman Sachs’s position is that we believe strongly that we need one system where everybody can participate,” he said. “As we move forward, there’ll be other things that need to happen. But this is a step in the right direction.”
While the banking lobby has been largely united in its opposition, investment banks like Goldman, which are less reliant on commercial or consumer deposits, have been keenly focused on other provisions of the bill that would codify how old-guard financial institutions can use digital assets and blockchain technology.
The bill includes language that will allow “regulated institutions that have been on the sidelines to participate more actively,” Solomon said. “At this point, I think that’s the most important thing.”
The market structure bill has been the subject of protracted, bipartisan negotiations, but its road to passage is unclear amid sharp debates over stablecoins, opposition from law enforcement groups and, most recently, ethics language that would prohibit federal officials from issuing their own tokens.