Market structure bill markup expected in weeks, says Coinbase CEO

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has spoken about the prospective bitcoin market structure bill being evaluated in the US Senate, less than 24 hours after stating that the exchange cannot endorse the present iteration of the legislation.

In a Thursday interview with CNBC at the US Capitol, Armstrong commented following his Wednesday post on X, announcing that Coinbase was withdrawing its support for the CLARITY Act, a legislative proposal aimed at establishing a digital asset market framework. Following Armstrong's post, the US Senate Banking Committee postponed its planned markup of the bill on Thursday.

The Coinbase CEO expressed worry that if the law proceeded to markup, the sole method to modify certain foundational text would be via an amendment, which had already been submitted. “Consequently, we deemed it unwise to emerge from committee with numerous issues in the bill that would have been detrimental to the average American consumer.”

Republican legislators overseeing the US House of Representatives and Senate initially anticipated the enactment of the CLARITY Act by 2026.

Market structure bill markup expected

Many industry leaders, banks, and experts have expressed concerns about the bill's rules on decentralized finance, interest on payment stablecoins, and how regulatory power is shared between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“Inaction is intolerable,” stated Cody Carbone, CEO of a cryptocurrency advocacy organization. The Digital Chamber informed Cointelegraph of the progress of the CLARITY Act. “We cannot afford to abandon negotiations at a time when clarity is imminent.” The market structure must progress, and the one avenue to enduring policy is to return to negotiations and complete the task.

Senator Tim Scott, the chair of the Banking Committee, stated on Wednesday that the postponing of the markup was a “brief pause” and that “good faith” bipartisan conversations are ongoing. Senate members are slated for a state work session next week, potentially postponing any potential markup until at least the end of January.

Will the postponement impact the other committee?
The Senate Agriculture Committee, which is also addressing a variant of the market structure measure, declared earlier this week that it will unveil draft legislation on January 21, with a markup hearing set for January 27. At the time of publication, committee chair John Boozman had not disclosed any modifications to this timeframe.