A long-stalled cryptocurrency market structure bill is moving through Congress with new momentum — and a top Coinbase executive says it could reshape the US financial system.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced 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 cryptocurrency industry with the interests of the traditional banking sector, and noting that the bill is in the best shape he has seen since negotiations began.
data, Via Fox Newscame on behalf of the Senate Banking Committee Ready to hold coded OF THE CLARITY ACT On May 14, it was the first formal committee vote on the legislation in the Senate after months of procedural delays and the elimination of markups twice.
Committee Chairman Tim Scott has set a target date of June or July 2026 for a full Senate vote, while the White House has set July 4 as its target for a presidential signature.
A legislative marathon is underway
The CLARITY Act — officially HR 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 — received approval by the House of Representatives on July 17, 2025, in a bipartisan vote of 294-134, with support from all 216 House Republicans and 78 Democrats.
Since then, the bill has languished in the Senate Banking Committee through two repeals, Expanded stablecoin negotiationsAnd an intense lobbying war between cryptocurrency companies and Wall Street banks.
In essence, the legislation draws a regulatory line between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Under the bill, the CFTC would have exclusive jurisdiction over the spot and cash markets for digital commodities while the SEC would retain authority over investment contract assets and fundraising in the primary market. Stablecoins are divided as a separate category under common supervision.
The Senate version of the bill expanded beyond the House text, increase To nine titles covering decentralized financial protections, illicit financing provisions, bankruptcy guarantees for cryptocurrency clients, and the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which creates safe havens for software developers who publish code without controlling client funds.
Confrontation over stablecoin
The most controversial provision in the bill centered on stablecoin returns. Banks have warned that allowing cryptocurrency platforms to pay rewards on stablecoin balances would lead to a flight of deposits from traditional bank accounts and threaten lending operations. Cryptocurrency companies, led by Coinbase, argued that the restrictions would give banks a competitive advantage and deprive Americans of new financial tools.
Confrontation produced A settlement brokered by Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Angela Albrooks (D-Maryland). Under final language in Section 404 of the bill, stablecoin issuers and their digital asset service providers cannot pay a return on balances if that return is the functional or economic equivalent of bank interest.
Activity-based rewards – cashback on payments, transaction-based incentives, and trade-related rewards – remain permitted. A stablecoin holder who takes no action earns no return.
Armstrong reiterated his support after the text of the settlement became public, with Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer at Coinbase, declaring the industry “secures what matters.”
Speaking on Fox, Armstrong credited Senators Tillis, Albrooks and their staffs with bringing both sides to the table. “I have to give a lot of credit to Senators Brooks and Tillis and their staffs who worked tirelessly on this matter,” he said.
Armstrong described the financial sector moving quickly toward digital asset integration.
“I go around and talk to a lot of CEOs of different banks, and a lot of them are leaning towards this as an opportunity to grow their businesses,” he said. “They are integrating stablecoins as quickly as they can.”
More than 100 cryptocurrency companies and industry groups, including the Crypto Innovation Council and the Blockchain Association, books She submitted to the Senate Banking Committee last April urging the committee to advance the bill, warning that continued delays threaten to push innovation and capital out of the United States.
Treasury Secretary Scott Besent has reinforced that call, telling a Senate committee that the legislation is needed to protect the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.
Thursday’s mark is not the finish line. If the Banking Committee approves the bill, it should be combined with the version passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee on a party-line vote of 12-11 in January 2026.
A full vote in the Senate would require 60 votes, making Democratic support a practical requirement and leaving the ongoing battle over ethics provisions — particularly language addressing President Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency holdings — as the bill’s biggest remaining fault line.
