In a recent interview, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong affirmed that the Senate’s highly anticipated version of the crypto market structure still has a chance of being passed this year, despite the recent setbacks.
Crypto Bill Sees ‘Strong’ Bipartisan Collaboration
Following Wednesday’s roundtables between Crypto industry CEOs and lawmakers from both parties, Armstrong told CNBC he believes the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (RFIA) can see significant progress in the next few weeks, with bipartisan support mounting.
“We had a great meeting with the Democrats in the Senate and on the Republican side today. The good news is that there’s strong bipartisan support and will to get this market structure legislation done. It’s important for America, and the 50 million Americans who use crypto wanna see it get done,” he affirmed.
The CEO considers that 90% of the disputes that have delayed the Senate Banking Committee draft bill’s markup session are “already aligned and agreed” on, with “a lot of great cross-functional collaboration happening” to address the remaining issues.
Armstrong also revealed that during the meetings with Senate Democrats, they addressed the controversial proposal to regulate the DeFi sector that got leaked and had seemingly stalled bipartisan talks on the legislation nearly two weeks ago.
As reported by Bitcoinist, Senate Democrats and Republicans were allegedly quarreling behind the scenes over a leaked proposal to regulate DeFi platforms. The document suggested establishing a “clear” regulatory framework for DeFi platforms by “defining accountability, clarifying oversight, and preventing the misuse of decentralized protocols for illicit finance, sanctions evasion, or to bypass market guardrails.”
The proposal received heavy backlash from Republican lawmakers and crypto industry leaders, including Armstrong, who argued that it “would set innovation back, and prevent the US from becoming the crypto capital of the world.”
According to Coinbase’s CEO, Senate Democrats “communicated to us that it was not a serious proposal.” He also noted that the incident highlighted the importance of preserving DeFi as a source of innovation, adding that they had a “productive conversation” about regulating centralized intermediaries, not the protocols.
Some online reports claimed that tensions between the two parties escalated during the October 22 meeting, resulting in a heated confrontation between one senator and the crypto executives about the leaked proposal and political alliances.
Market Structure Bill Approval Back On Track?
On X, Journalist Eleanor Terret affirmed that it is certain that all key players involved want to see the legislation done in a bipartisan manner. However, it remains unclear who will make the first move to restart the bipartisan negotiations, when a markup date will be agreed on, and how the government shutdown will affect these talks.
Armstrong considers there’s a “good chance” that the crypto market structure bill could “get out” of the Senate Banking Committee by Thanksgiving, with the draft texts potentially being released “in the next month or so.”
He also noted that the government shutdown “hasn’t stopped the Senate and their staff from continuing to work” on the legislation. To the CEO, lawmakers want the market structure bill to have a similar effect as the stablecoin framework, which “unleashed a surge of payment activity in the crypto space and gave a chance for the US dollar to really be exported around the world and all these dollar-denominated accounts.”
“My hope is still that it gets done this year. I think we have a good chance of doing it,” he affirmed. “If we get it out of Committee before Thanksgiving, there’s a chance to get it done in December,” he continued. This timeline would allow the two chambers of Congress to come together and get the crypto legislation on US President Donald Trump’s desk, “hopefully shortly after.”
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