Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes the Senate’s Sept. 15 vote on the CLARITY Act alone may not be enough to provide clearer federal regulation for the U.S. crypto industry.
Even if lawmakers do not advance the bill, he expects the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to move forward with their respective rulemaking.
Armstrong told CNBC that either scenario could provide clarity, noting that legislation could allow Congress to write rules or, should legislation fail, the SEC and CFTC are poised to write rules within days, giving companies focused on digital assets more clarity on how federal regulation of the industry could work.
And that distinction matters, because agency rules can give operational guidance without superseding laws passed by Congress.
If passed into law, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act would establish a federal market structure for cryptocurrency. The SEC and CFTC would share oversight for regulating digital assets and financial products.
Assets that are seen as securities would remain under the authority of the SEC, while decentralized digital commodities like Bitcoin are under the CFTC. Exchanges, brokers and other market participants would also face federal requirements.
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On Sept. 15, the Senate is expected to vote on whether to invoke cloture, or end debate, on the motion to proceed to the bill, rather than on whether to pass the bill itself. Cloture requires 60 votes in the Senate, meaning that if the official Senate schedule is correct and the vote happens at 2:15 p.m. ET, Republicans will need Democratic or independent support to pass legislation.
Armstrong said that after months of negotiation, bipartisan compromises were made, addressing both sides’ concerns over previous drafts. Open issues include ethics standards on elected officials, stablecoin compensation, and decentralized finance developer protections.
Armstrong said the White House has pushed for a strong ethics provision; the Democrats have wanted more stringent measures, such as divestiture.
Stablecoins have been another source of controversy, with some in the banking industry claiming they will compete with deposits. Armstrong called the criticisms from the payments-heavy finance sector commercially motivated, and pointed to support for cryptocurrencies from Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and Fidelity among other normal-scale bankers.
Armstrong also described agentic finance as another key emerging market outside of Washington. Coinbase is building infrastructure around agentic finance via its Base network, USDC▲$0.9999, and its x402 payment protocol for autonomous software agents making payments on the internet.
Armstrong stated over 90% of the estimated 165 million agentic payments made thus far are completed in this ecosystem.
The Coinbase star also reiterated his long-term Bitcoin outlook, suggesting that he felt like $400,000 by 2030 was a reasonable target and that he believes the bottom of the latest Bitcoin cycle is already in.
For now, however, the next deadline is Sept. 15, so that if a cloture vote succeeds, the CLARITY Act is open for debate. If it fails, attention will turn to how quickly the SEC and CFTC can generate their alternative regulatory regimes.
