Brian Armstrong, the CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, denied reports that the White House is considering pulling support for the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill, and also denied rumors that the administration is “furious” with Coinbase.
“The White House has been super constructive here. They did ask us to see if we can go figure out a deal with the banks, which we’re currently working on,” Armstrong said.
On Friday, independent journalist Eleanor Terrett reported a clash between Coinbase and the administration of US President Donald Trump, with the White House threatening to withdraw support for the market structure bill if Coinbase did not resume negotiations.
Coinbase withdrew its support for the CLARITY Act on Wednesday over concerns that the legislation would gut the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, ban tokenized stock trading, and prohibit sharing yield from stablecoins with customers.
“We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill. Hopefully, we can all get to a better draft,” Armstrong said on Wednesday, while sharing a list of industry concerns about the most recent bill draft.
The US Senate Banking Committee postponed the scheduled markup of the CLARITY Act, which was originally slated for Thursday, until lawmakers and the crypto industry can negotiate more acceptable terms.
Armstrong said he expects a new bill markup within a “few” weeks and characterized the provisions in the stalled version of the bill as “catastrophic” for consumers, echoing the widespread concerns of crypto industry executives.
Related: US crypto market structure bill in limbo as industry pulls support
The CLARITY Act leaves the crypto industry split, as the fight over stablecoin yield intensifies
The CLARITY Act has created a divide within the crypto industry, with some industry executives arguing that the bill is a net positive for the sector, despite the drawbacks, and others arguing that it is a major setback for the industry
At the heart of the debate is the issue of sharing stablecoin yield with customers, which the most recent version of the bill prohibits.
Critics of the bill say that it protects banking interests at the expense of the crypto industry and kills innovation in financial technology.
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