Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a three-word response on X on May 1 after Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks released the final stablecoin yield compromise text for the CLARITY Act: “Mark it up,” urging the Senate Banking Committee to advance the bill that Armstrong himself put on ice in January.
Summary
- The Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise bans crypto firms from offering any interest or yield that is “economically or functionally equivalent” to a bank deposit.
- Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said banks secured tighter restrictions on rewards but the deal protected “the ability for Americans to earn rewards, based on real usage of cryptocurrency platforms and networks,” which he framed as the core issue throughout negotiations.
- Polymarket odds of the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 jumped from 46% to 64% within hours of the deal, with Galaxy Research head Alex Thorn saying a Senate Banking markup could come as soon as the week of May 11.
Brian Armstrong’s endorsement carries unusual weight on this specific bill. As crypto.news reported, it was Armstrong who pulled Coinbase’s support hours before a scheduled January 14 committee markup, causing Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott to postpone the vote indefinitely. The bill has not reached markup since. Armstrong’s January withdrawal also followed a contentious moment in March when Coinbase and Stripe rejected a separate draft — one so unacceptable that Circle’s stock fell 20% in a single session. The May 1 deal, authored by Tillis and Alsobrooks after months of negotiations with the White House, banking groups, and crypto firms, draws a firm line at passive yield while leaving open a regulatory runway for rewards tied to actual platform participation.
Benzinga reported that the SEC, CFTC, and Treasury are directed to jointly issue rules within one year defining a non-exhaustive list of permitted reward activities. Armstrong’s company reported $1.35 billion in stablecoin revenue in 2025, making the yield provisions a direct financial variable rather than a policy preference.
As crypto.news documented, JPMorgan analysts described CLARITY Act passage by midyear as a “key positive catalyst” for digital asset markets, and the stablecoin yield question was the single largest obstacle remaining before the deal landed. Shirzad acknowledged the trade-off: “In the end, the banks were able to get more restrictions on rewards, but we protected what matters.” Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Kim expressed residual concern about the text’s breadth, urging the committee to proceed to markup regardless.
As crypto.news tracked, Galaxy Digital had put overall 2026 passage odds at roughly 50-50 before the deal, with Thorn warning that if the markup slips past mid-May, the probability of enactment drops sharply. The bill still needs to pass the Banking Committee, clear the Senate floor at 60 votes, reconcile with the Agriculture Committee version, and reconcile with the July 2025 House text before reaching Trump’s desk.
