Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has denied claims suggesting the White House has reversed its position on the CLARITY Act, a US Senate bill focused on crypto market structure, or is considering withdrawing support. He stressed that discussions on the legislation are still ongoing.
Additionally, Armstrong dismissed rumors that the Trump administration is unhappy with Coinbase.
In a declaration Elaborating on this point, the CEO said: “The White House has been very helpful. They asked us to see if we could come to an agreement with the banks, and we are currently doing that.”
Eleanor Terrett exposes the current situation of the crypto ecosystem
The disagreement between crypto exchange Coinbase and the Trump administration was the first made public by Eleanor Terrett, journalist and co-host of the Crypto In America podcast, Friday January 16. Following its report, the White House threatened to withhold support for the Market Structure Bill if negotiations with the exchange remained frozen.
Terrett found out just after Coinbase publicly announced that it had withdrawn its support for the CLARITY Act this week, expressing concerns that the legislation could negatively impact the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry, impose restrictions on tokenized stock transactions, and prevent customers from maximizing stablecoin returns.
When the stock exchange made this decision to end its support for the bill, Armstrong shared a declaration emphasizing that “We would rather have no bill than a bad bill. We hope to create a better version together.” He made the remarks while outlining key industry risks related to the recently released bill.
On the other hand, reports from reliable sources indicate that the US Senate Banking Committee has decided to postpone the planned market structure markup of the bill due to the uncertainties surrounding the bill raised in the crypto industry at present. This marking was planned for Thursday January 15.
Regarding the delay, sources noted that the US Senate Banking Committee wanted opponents and the crypto industry to reach an agreement on favorable terms.
With this argument in mind, Coinbase expressed its belief that a new bill surcharge would be settled sooner than expected. According to Armstrong, the rules displayed in the finalized version of the bill have been disastrous for customers, citing concerns shared by several industry leaders in the crypto ecosystem.
The crypto community expressed mixed reactions to the CLARITY Act
As uncertainties surrounding the fate of the CLARITY Act continued to intensify, reports noted that the bill caused mixed reactions across the crypto ecosystem.
To support this claim, these reports mention that some industry executives predicted that the Market Structure Bill would be a game-changer for the industry despite its drawbacks. However, others perceived the bill as a major hurdle in the crypto industry.
This discovery sparked heated discussions between individuals. To address this controversy, sources close to the situation revealed that the main issue is the ongoing debate over whether to allow stablecoin returns to be shared with customers, a move opposed by the recently released version of the bill.
At the same time, critics have expressed concerns that the CLARITY Act prioritizes the interests of banks over those of the crypto sector, thereby acting as an obstacle to the progress of financial technology.
