Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has denied claims suggesting that the White House has reversed its position on the CLARITY Act, a U.S. Senate bill focused on crypto market structure, or is considering withdrawing its support. He emphasized that discussions on the legislation are still ongoing.
In addition, Armstrong dismissed rumors that the Trump administration is unhappy with Coinbase.
In a statement to further elaborate on this point, the CEO mentioned that, “The White House has been very helpful. They asked us to see if we can work out an agreement with the banks, and we are currently doing that.”
Journalist Eleanor Terrett Reports on the Crypto Ecosystem's Current Situation
The disagreement between the crypto exchange Coinbase and the Trump administration was first made public by Eleanor Terrett, a journalist and co-host of the Crypto In America podcast, on Friday, January 16. Following her report, the White House threatened to halt its backing for the market structure bill if talks with the exchange remained frozen.
Terrett discovered this just after Coinbase publicly announced it had withdrawn support for the CLARITY Act this week, expressing concerns that the legislation could negatively impact the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, impose restrictions on tokenized stock trading, and hinder clients from maximizing returns from stablecoins.
When the exchange was embracing this decision to halt its support on the bill, Armstrong shared a statement highlighting that, “We’d prefer no bill over a bad bill. We hope to create a better version together.” He made these remarks while outlining key industry risks connected to the recently released draft of the bill.
On the other hand, reports from reliable sources indicate that the US Senate Banking Committee decided to postpone the planned markup of the market structure bill due to uncertainties surrounding the bill raised in the crypto industry at the moment. This markup was scheduled for Thursday, January 15.
Concerning this delay, sources noted that the US Senate Banking Committee wants lawmakers and the crypto industry to secure an agreement on favorable terms.
With this argument in mind, Coinbase expressed its belief that a new bill markup will be settled sooner than expected. According to Armstrong, the rules displayed in the halted version of the bill were disastrous for clients, citing worries shared by several industry leaders in the crypto ecosystem.
Mixed Reactions Emerge from the Crypto Community Regarding the CLARITY Act
As uncertainties surrounding the fate of the CLARITY Act continued to escalate, reports noted that the bill brought about mixed reactions in the crypto ecosystem.
To support this claim, these reports mentioned that some industry executives anticipated that the market structure bill would be a game-changer for the Industry despite its drawbacks. However, others perceived the bill as a major obstacle in the crypto industry.
This finding ignited heated discussions among individuals. To address this controversy, sources close to the situation disclosed that the main problem is the ongoing debate over whether to permit stablecoin returns to be shared with clients, a move the recently released version of the bill opposes.
In the meantime, critics raised concerns that the CLARITY Act prioritizes the interests of banks over those of the crypto Industry, therefore, acting as a barrier to progress in financial technology.