Coinbase CEO Pulls Support for Senate Crypto Bill Over Tokenized Equities Ban

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has withdrawn its support for the Senate Banking Committee’s draft of a market structure bill for digital assets.

“We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a Wednesday (Jan. 14) post on X. “Hopefully we can all get to a better draft.”

The Senate Banking Committee introduced a “manager’s amendment” to the digital asset legislation late Monday (Jan. 12) ahead of a markup meeting scheduled for Thursday (Jan. 15).

The committee’s Republicans said in a Monday press release that the legislation is designed to “establish clear rules of the road for digital assets, all while protecting Main Street retail investors.”

Armstrong said in his post that the committee’s draft text has “too many issues.” Among them, he said, are what he described as a de facto ban on tokenized equities, DeFi prohibitions that give the government access to users’ financial records, erosion of the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and draft amendments that would eliminate rewards on stablecoins.

“We’ll keep fighting for all Americans and for economic freedom,” Armstrong said in the post. “Crypto needs to be treated on a level playing field with the rest of financial services so we can build this industry in a safe and trusted way in America.”

In another post, Armstrong added: “I’m actually quite optimistic that we will get to the right outcome with continued effort. We will keep showing up and working with everyone to get there.”

It was reported in May 2024 that cryptocurrency sector-backed political action committees (PACs) had become one of the top three fundraisers in the 2024 election season.

More than half of the funds raised by the crypto super PACs at that point, about $54 million, came from direct corporate expenditures from companies like Coinbase and Ripple Labs. The rest came from crypto executives and venture capitalists, including Armstrong.

It was reported in November 2024 that Armstrong met with then President-Elect Donald Trump to discuss the incoming administration’s personnel appointments.

In March 2025, Armstrong was among the crypto executives who attended the nation’s first-ever “Crypto Summit.”

PYMNTS reported Friday (Jan. 9) that this month is crunch time for the Senate on cryptocurrency market regulation efforts.