A long-stalled crypto market structure bill is moving through Congress with new momentum — and Coinbase’s top executive says it could reshape the American financial system.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong declared his company’s support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Wednesday, calling the legislation a “true compromise” that balances the demands of the crypto industry against the interests of the traditional banking sector and signaling the bill is in the best shape he has seen since negotiations began.
The statements, via Fox News, came as the Senate Banking Committee prepared to hold its markup of the CLARITY Act on May 14, the first formal committee vote on the legislation in the Senate after months of procedural delays and two cancelled markups.
Committee Chairman Tim Scott has set a target of June or July 2026 for a full Senate floor vote, while the White House has marked July 4 as its goal for a presidential signature.
A legislative marathon is taking place
The CLARITY Act — formally H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 — cleared the House of Representatives on July 17, 2025, in a 294–134 bipartisan vote, with all 216 House Republicans in support and 78 Democrats crossing the aisle.
Since then, the bill sat in the Senate Banking Committee through two cancelled markups, extended stablecoin negotiations, and an intensifying lobbying war between crypto firms and Wall Street banks.
At its core, the legislation draws a regulatory line between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Under the bill, the CFTC would hold exclusive jurisdiction over spot and cash markets for digital commodities while the SEC retains authority over investment contract assets and primary market fundraising. Stablecoins are carved out as a separate category under shared oversight.
The Senate version of the bill expanded beyond the House text, growing to nine titles that cover decentralized finance protections, illicit finance provisions, bankruptcy safeguards for crypto customers, and the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which creates safe harbors for software developers who publish code without controlling customer funds.
The stablecoin standoff
The bill’s most contested provision centered on stablecoin yield. Banks warned that permitting crypto platforms to pay rewards on stablecoin balances would trigger deposit flight from traditional bank accounts and threaten lending operations. Crypto firms, led by Coinbase, argued that restrictions would hand banks a competitive advantage and strip Americans of new financial tools.
The standoff produced a compromise brokered by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD). Under the final language in Section 404 of the bill, stablecoin issuers and affiliated digital asset service providers cannot pay yield on balances if that yield is the functional or economic equivalent of bank interest.
Activity-based rewards — cashback on payments, transaction-based incentives, and rewards tied to commerce — remain permitted. A stablecoin holder who takes no action generates no return.
Armstrong confirmed his support after the compromise text became public, with Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad declaring the industry “secured what is important.”
Speaking on Fox, Armstrong credited Senators Tillis, Alsobrooks, and their staffs for bringing both sides to the table. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Senators Brooks and Tillis and their staff who worked tirelessly on this,” he said.
Armstrong described a financial sector moving fast toward digital asset integration.
“I go around and I speak with lots of different bank CEOs, and many of them are just leaning into this as an opportunity to grow their business,” he said. “They’re integrating stablecoins as fast as they can.”
More than 100 crypto firms and industry groups, including the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association, wrote to the Senate Banking Committee in April urging the panel to advance the bill, warning that continued delays risk pushing innovation and capital outside the United States.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reinforced that call, telling a Senate panel the legislation is essential to protecting the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.
The Thursday markup is not the finish line. If the Banking Committee approves the bill, it must merge with a version passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee in a party-line 12–11 vote in January 2026.
A full Senate floor vote requires 60 votes, making Democratic support a practical requirement and leaving an ongoing fight over ethics provisions — specifically language addressing President Trump and his family’s crypto holdings — as the bill’s biggest remaining fault line.
