Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO, reversed his January stance and urged passage of the CLARITY Act after months of delays. In a Thursday post on X, Armstrong said he agreed with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Wall Street Journal op‑ed pressing Congress to act on the crypto bill soon, calling the current version “a strong bill” and declaring, “It’s time to pass the Clarity Act.”
Armstrong had withdrawn Coinbase’s support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in January, which led the Senate Banking Committee to postpone a critical markup. At that time he said the company could not back the bill “as written,” though he expected it to pass “in a few weeks.” Negotiations since then have addressed ethics, tokenized equities, stablecoin yield and other crypto issues, slowing progress.
The pending markup in the Senate Banking Committee—required after the Senate Agriculture Committee approved its portion in January—had not been scheduled as of Friday. Both committees must resolve their separate securities and commodities jurisdiction questions before the full Senate can vote. Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, said last week that lawmakers were “very close to a deal.”
The engagement of crypto executives with administration and congressional officials has raised questions about the industry’s influence in Washington. Coinbase and Ripple Labs leaders have participated in talks over the CLARITY Act, and Armstrong reportedly met with President Donald Trump before the president publicly urged immediate action on crypto market structure.
Those relationships coincide with regulatory developments that may benefit crypto firms: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently conditionally approved Coinbase’s national trust bank charter application, following approvals for Paxos, Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle and Fidelity Digital Assets in December.
Cointelegraph says it is committed to independent, transparent journalism and produces this article in accordance with its Editorial Policy. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read the Editorial Policy at https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy.