Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong has renewed support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, backing a recent call from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for Congress to move the bill forward.
Summary
- Brian Armstrong backed the CLARITY Act after Coinbase opposed the bill’s earlier version in January.
- Senate Banking Committee action remains pending as lawmakers continue talks on crypto market structure rules.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Congress to pass the bill as negotiations moved forward.
The public statement marks a shift from Coinbase’s position in January, when Armstrong said the company could not support the measure in its earlier form before a key Senate committee vote.
Armstrong said in a post on X that Coinbase now supports the latest version of the bill after months of talks between lawmakers and industry groups. He also backed Bessent’s recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, which called on Congress to act on crypto market structure legislation.
Armstrong wrote, ”It’s time to pass the Clarity Act.” His new statement came about three months after he said the exchange could not support the bill ”as written,” a position that contributed to a delay in Senate Banking Committee action.
The CLARITY Act still faces several steps before reaching a full Senate vote. The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its part of the bill in January, but the Senate Banking Committee must still address provisions tied to securities and commodities oversight.
As of Friday, no markup had been scheduled in the Banking Committee. The bill has remained stalled for months as lawmakers debated issues tied to ethics, tokenized equities, stablecoin yield, and other digital asset matters.
In addition, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said last week that lawmakers were ”very close to a deal” on the bill. That comment added to signs that negotiations had continued behind the scenes even as the measure remained off the committee calendar.
The latest support from Armstrong suggests Coinbase believes the bill has improved since January. His earlier comments had pointed to concerns over the wording of the draft, while the current version now appears to have the exchange’s backing.
Crypto policy ties stay in focus
The bill’s progress has drawn attention to the crypto industry’s role in Washington. Coinbase and Ripple executives have both taken part in talks with administration officials on crypto policy, while Armstrong reportedly met President Donald Trump before Trump publicly called for action on market structure legislation.
Coinbase’s renewed support for the bill also comes shortly after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the company’s application for a national bank trust charter. The approval followed similar decisions for Paxos, Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle, and Fidelity Digital Assets in December.
