Coinbase renews CLARITY Act push as Armstrong cites U.S. economic security

Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong's campaign for the CLARITY Act faces steeper resistance after Senator Josh Hawley said he will vote against advancing the bill unless lawmakers add stronger protections for community banks. Hawley said farmers, ranchers and community bankers in Missouri are warning that stablecoin rewards programs could pull deposits from local lenders and reduce agricultural lending in small towns, making him the first Republican to publicly oppose the measure. The vote math has grown more difficult as the bill remains short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Senator Rand Paul is also expected to oppose it, while seven Democratic negotiators said the July 22 draft fell short on ethics and talks over restricting senior officials from crypto dealings have stalled. Senate Majority Leader John Thune moved on Wednesday to advance a college sports bill instead, but said of the crypto legislation, "I still want to do that. We're sequencing it." The timing is now critical. Wednesday night was effectively the last window for Thune to file cloture if the Senate leaves Friday as scheduled, because the filing must ripen for a full day before the first procedural vote. If the Senate does not act before recess, lawmakers could return to the CLARITY Act in September, when only a limited number of working days remain before midterm campaigning dominates the floor, though a legislative staffer said the bill could still pass then if disputes over illicit finance, agriculture provisions and ethics language are resolved. Armstrong has framed the CLARITY Act as important to U.S. economic security and competitiveness, while Marc Andreessen has argued that crypto's survival through a U.S. crackdown has become a political asset in Washington and that the industry needs a stable domestic framework so compliant firms are not disadvantaged against offshore operators. The July 22 draft released by U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis would split oversight between the SEC and CFTC and create registration, disclosure, customer protection and market structure rules for intermediaries.