Coinbase's Armstrong Disputes Senate Failure Blame as CFTC Pushes Forward with Crypto Rulemaking
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong disputes claims that his company is to blame for the Senate's failure to advance crypto market structure legislation, known as the CLARITY Act. Armstrong says The Wall Street Journal is preparing a story that pins the failure on Coinbase and him personally.
Armstrong opposed sending the January draft of the bill to a committee vote because it needed serious work on DeFi, tokenization, CFTC authority, and stablecoin rewards. He argues that the text had major issues that would have harmed crypto and that support was fractured, making the bill unpassable at that point.
According to Armstrong, all four items he flagged were resolved in the draft that went through committee roughly four months later. He calls the final version sent to the Senate 'great' and says he strongly supported it.
The CFTC has been accelerating crypto rulemaking, with a proposal on crypto asset trading and market regulation submitted to the White House on September 17. Galaxy Research expects no further legislative progress this year, while CoinShares warns that the stalled bill may limit Bitcoin's ability to break $80,000 by year-end.
Galaxy Research notes that regulatory clarity is still needed for DeFi, tokenization, and stablecoins, which can only be addressed through legislation. Commissioner Hester Peirce leaves the SEC in November, adding to the uncertainty surrounding crypto regulation.