Coinbase CEO Urges Passage of CLARITY Act

Brian Armstrong posted on X on Thursday that “it’s time to pass the CLARITY Act,” expressing agreement with a recent op-ed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that urged Congress to act. Armstrong called the current version of the bill “a strong bill” after months of negotiations among lawmakers, crypto firms and banks.

Armstrong withdrew Coinbase’s support for the legislation in January, saying the bill could not be backed “as written.” That withdrawal led the Senate Banking Committee to postpone a planned markup. Lawmakers and industry representatives continued negotiating provisions on ethics, tokenized equities and stablecoin yield, and no new markup had been scheduled in the Banking Committee as of Friday. The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its portion of the bill in January; both committees must resolve jurisdictional and regulatory details before the CLARITY Act can reach a full Senate vote.

Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, wrote last week that lawmakers were “very close to a deal,” indicating ongoing talks between legislators and industry stakeholders. Executives from Coinbase and other firms have met with administration officials to discuss the bill’s language. Armstrong reportedly met with the president before a presidential message calling for immediate action on crypto market structure.

The CLARITY Act aims to draw clearer lines between activities regulated as securities and those treated as commodities, and to set rules on market structure, custody, tokenized assets and stablecoin frameworks. Lawmakers, bank regulators and crypto firms are negotiating specific language to reconcile differing views on oversight and consumer protections.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved Coinbase’s application for a national trust charter last week, following December approvals for Paxos, Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle and Fidelity Digital Assets. Negotiators must resolve technical and jurisdictional differences in committee before the bill can advance to a vote in the full Senate.