Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has denied reports that the White House threatened to withdraw support for pending crypto market structure legislation, dismissing rumors of a clash between the exchange and the Trump administration.
On Saturday, Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett reported that the White House was “furious” with Coinbase for withdrawing its support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act). Citing a source close to the administration, the report claimed officials viewed Coinbase’s sudden opposition as a “rug pull” and threatened to abandon the bill entirely unless the exchange returned to the negotiating table.
Armstrong directly refuted these claims, describing the administration’s engagement as positive.
“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.” – Brian Armstrong
The friction stems from Coinbase’s decision on Wednesday to pull support for the Senate Banking Committee’s draft bill. Armstrong argued the current version would act as a de facto ban on tokenized equities, restrict decentralized finance (DeFi), and crucially prohibit platforms from offering yield on stablecoins.
“We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill,” Armstrong stated, arguing that the yield bans were designed to protect commercial banks from competition rather than protect consumers.
The Senate Banking Committee has postponed the markup of the CLARITY Act to allow for further negotiations between industry leaders and banking lobbyists.
Source:https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2012612712044573151