Coinbase CEO says the next major crypto bill is a ‘freight train’

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says that critical legislation to advance crypto in the US has “a good chance of getting done” after witnessing strong bipartisan support for the crypto market structure bill this week. 

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act seeks to clarify the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other financial agencies that regulate the crypto market, especially non-stablecoins such as tokenized stocks.

After meeting with lawmakers over the last few days, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said: “This is how we ensure the crypto industry can be built here in America, driving innovation and protecting consumers, and making sure we never have another Gary Gensler trying to take your rights.”

“The Senate is strongly supportive of getting this done; the members I met with on both sides of the aisle are ready to get this legislation passed,” Armstrong said in a video posted to X, noting that the draft bill is being exchanged back and forth before it heads to the industry participants for public input.

“I think this has a good chance of getting done, I’ve actually never been more bullish on the market structure [bill] getting passed, it’s a freight train leaving the station.”

I was in DC the last few days working to get MARKET STRUCTURE legislation passed for crypto. This is how we ensure the crypto industry can be built here in America, driving innovation and protecting consumers, and making sure we never have another Gary Gensler trying to take your… pic.twitter.com/UqCH8jCNU8

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) September 18, 2025

Senator Cynthia Lummis predicted earlier this month that the CLARITY Act would get to President Donald Trump’s desk to sign before the end of the year.

Among the other crypto representatives reportedly in attendance were executives from Ripple, Kraken, Circle, Cardano and tech-focused venture capital firms a16z, Paradigm and Multicoin Capital.

Bill should prioritize protecting builders: Kraken boss

Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi said his contributions in the roundtable discussion focused on how the market structure bill can support crypto products and services in a way that benefits its builders as a priority. 

“Thank you to everyone in DC fighting for crypto’s future. But the real fight is bigger: protecting the right to build protocols, chains, memes, tokenized equities, commodities, utilities, etc. and ensuring incentives stay with the builders, not just incumbents.”

Armstrong also added that lawmakers won’t allow the banking industry’s attempt to ban interest on stablecoins. In mid-August, several banking groups warned that yield-bearing stablecoins could threaten the traditional banking model, which depends on attracting deposits with high-interest savings products to fund loans.

The banking groups already tried to ban interest on stablecoins in the GENIUS Act, but weren’t successful, Armstrong noted.

Bitcoin reserve bill also gaining momentum

It appears to have been a productive week on Capitol Hill. 

US lawmakers also met on Monday with 18 Bitcoin leaders, including Strategy chairman Michael Saylor, to discuss how Congress can move forward with the Trump administration’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Related: SEC, Gemini Trust reach agreement over crypto lending dispute

Saylor and his peers pitched ideas as to how the Cynthia Lummis-sponsored BITCOIN Act can be passed, and see the US government acquire one million Bitcoin over the next five years through budget-neutral strategies.