Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has accused \u201centrenched incumbents\u201d of lobbying against the CLARITY Act, arguing that established financial players are trying to stop crypto companies from competing in US financial services.<\/p>\n
His comments frame the fight over the bill as a contest between traditional firms protecting their position and crypto businesses seeking clearer rules.<\/p>\n
Armstrong said<\/a> the Trump administration came to power after millions of Americans felt \u201cdisenfranchised\u201d by the previous administration\u2019s approach to crypto.<\/p>\n He pointed to Donald Trump\u2019s 2024 campaign promise to remove former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, recalling the reaction when Trump said at a Bitcoin conference that he would fire Gensler \u201con day one.\u201d<\/p>\n He then ran through what he sees as progress since Trump took office: an executive order calling for clearer crypto rules, the appointment of SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Mike Selig, and passage of the GENIUS Act for stablecoins. The CLARITY Act, Armstrong said, is the next piece.<\/p>\n \u201cMake no mistake, there are people out there actively fighting against this,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cThere are entrenched incumbents who don\u2019t want competition from crypto companies that would provide better financial services.\u201d<\/p>\n He went further, alleging that some of those firms are \u201cactively lobbying against it, trying to kill it.\u201d The Coinbase chief also singled out Senator Elizabeth Warren, saying she is among those seeking to stop the legislation. His argument comes as the bill approaches a September 15 Senate vote<\/a> on a motion to proceed.<\/p>\n As CryptoPotato<\/em> reported previously, Armstrong had earlier said on August 21 that regulatory clarity was coming<\/a> either through Congress or through action by the SEC and CFTC. He pointed to September 15 and 16 as possible dates for that development.<\/p>\n The Senate needs 60 votes for cloture, while Republicans hold 53 seats. That means if all of them support the measure, it would still leave them needing at least seven additional votes from Democrats or independents.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the bill still faces disputes over ethics rules, anti-money laundering provisions, and whether crypto companies can offer rewards on customer stablecoin holdings.<\/p>\n The banking industry\u2019s concerns over stablecoin rewards sit close to Armstrong\u2019s competition argument. The provision has drawn resistance from traditional lenders, who say such products could pull deposits away from banks.<\/p>\n That dispute helps explain why the CLARITY debate is about more than deciding which regulator handles crypto. The legislation would establish federal rules for digital assets, including how tokens are classified and where SEC and CFTC responsibilities begin and end.<\/p>\n With all that going on, Armstrong\u2019s message is direct: the bill should pass because consumers and crypto firms need clearer rules, while established financial companies should not be able to block competitors through lobbying.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time to get the Clarity Act, which will protect consumers, over the finish line,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cThere\u2019s something in it for everyone: banks, law enforcement, crypto companies, and most importantly the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Brian Armstrong: \u2018Incumbents\u2019 Are Trying to Kill Crypto Competition<\/a> appeared first on CryptoPotato<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has accused \u201centrenched incumbents\u201d of lobbying against the CLARITY Act, arguing that established financial players are trying to stop crypto companies from competing in US financial services. His comments frame the fight over the bill as a contest between traditional firms protecting their position and crypto businesses seeking clearer rules. Armstrong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220893"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=220893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=220893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=220893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=220893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Banks Remain a Point of Tension<\/h2>\n