Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong advocates for CLARITY Act to protect consumers

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is making his case for the CLARITY Act, calling it the kind of bipartisan legislation that could finally bring regulatory order to the US crypto market. His pitch centers on two pillars: protecting consumers from another FTX-style meltdown and keeping the government from overreaching into an industry that’s still finding its footing.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, as it’s formally known, has been winding through Congress for over a year now. It passed the House in July 2025, cleared the Senate Banking Committee earlier in 2026, and is currently stuck in the legislative equivalent of a loading screen, with a Senate floor vote scheduled for September 15, 2026.

What the bill actually does

At its core, the CLARITY Act tries to answer the question that has plagued crypto regulation since roughly forever: who’s in charge? The bill carves up oversight responsibilities between the SEC and CFTC, establishing distinct market-structure rules for exchanges and issuers of digital assets.

The legislation also includes provisions specifically designed to address the kind of catastrophic failures the industry has already lived through. Consumer protections baked into the bill aim to prevent scenarios resembling the FTX collapse, which vaporized billions in customer funds and left retail investors holding nothing but regret and legal filings.

Armstrong described the bill as a “true compromise” that balances industry growth with practical guardrails. Part of that compromise involves bank-friendly measures, expanding the ability of traditional financial institutions to participate in stablecoins and digital asset services.

The polling and the politics

Armstrong isn’t just relying on industry logic to make his case. He pointed to polling data showing that 70% of Americans favor clearer regulatory frameworks for digital assets.

Armstrong has predicted the bill will garner over 60 votes in the Senate, which would clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold with room to spare. That confidence stems partly from the momentum behind adjacent trends: stablecoin adoption has been accelerating, and the tokenization of real-world assets like treasuries and real estate has shifted from theoretical concept to active market.

Still, the path hasn’t been smooth. The Senate has postponed voting on the bill multiple times, and Armstrong hasn’t hidden his frustration with the delays. In the gap between committee approval and floor vote, regulators have continued pushing for additional rules of their own, creating a parallel rulemaking track that could complicate the legislative picture.

Why this matters beyond the Beltway

For retail investors, the consumer protection provisions are arguably more important. The crypto industry’s track record on safeguarding customer funds is, to put it diplomatically, uneven. Codifying protections into federal law would give investors recourse they currently lack, and give law enforcement clearer tools to go after bad actors.

Armstrong has framed part of his advocacy around preventing the offshoring of crypto innovation. Without clear US rules, the argument goes, companies and talent migrate to jurisdictions with more defined frameworks, like the EU under its MiCA regulation or Singapore.

The September 15 vote will be worth watching closely. If the bill clears the Senate with the margin Armstrong expects, it would represent the most significant piece of crypto-specific legislation in US history. If it stalls again, the regulatory vacuum that has defined American crypto policy for years will persist, and the SEC and CFTC will continue their jurisdictional tug-of-war without a congressional referee to settle it.

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