Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong discusses the upcoming Senate vote on the Clarity Act and expresses optimism that the crypto bill ...
What Brian Armstrong said
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Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, expressed optimism that the Clarity Act will pass the Senate with more than 60 votes, citing bipartisan work and improvements to the bill. He noted that all his 'must-haves' from earlier this year are now included, including an ethics provision and law enforcement tools. Armstrong defended the ability to pay interest on stablecoins, arguing that savers should earn more and that the White House Council of Economic Advisers found bank fears overstated. He mentioned a last-minute circuit breaker allowing the Treasury Secretary to monitor community bank harm over 18 months. Coinbase announced a partnership to provide stablecoin payment technology to community banks, using USDC. On AI, Armstrong agreed with President Trump that new regulation is unnecessary, as existing liability laws suffice. He framed Bitcoin as a hedge against deficit spending and higher interest rates.
Key takeaways
Armstrong predicts the Clarity Act will pass with more than 60 votes in the Senate.
Coinbase announced a partnership to help community banks integrate stablecoin payments using USDC.
Armstrong supports paying interest on stablecoins, citing White House CEA findings that bank fears are overstated.
He agrees with President Trump that AI does not need new regulation, as existing liability laws suffice.
5:45What do you think right now about what is happening in the AI world at the moment, where suddenly some of the biggest platforms and frontier AI companies say now we need regulation?
7:33What will that have on Bitcoin, in your opinion?
Fox Business Alert. The countdown is on about the Clarity Act, which clarifies federal rules and regulations for digital currencies and tokens, and the divisiveness between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFTC. The vote is set for tomorrow at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. After months and months and months of argument, it needs 60 votes. Crypto exchange Coinbase has been front and center and pushing Congress to support the landmark bill. On the eve of the vote, the shares right now are up nearly 10 percent. Fox Business' own Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, would like to get the chances of passage tomorrow. Brian, there are three GOP senators, and for passage, all Republicans we need to be on board, along with seven additional Democrats. What are you hearing about how members are talking about it?
Well, I'm pretty optimistic that we're going to get more than 60 votes tomorrow. Thousands of hours of work on both sides of the aisle over the past few years to get to a really good bipartisan work product. We finally got some clear rules for crypto for consumer protection, to give new tools to law enforcement, so that the financial system can be built here in America for the future. And that the U.S. regulatory perimeter is set. Tomorrow is the maximum. We're going to see who is in favor of American leadership in finance and who is against it. So there's no doubt.
True, but you never know until it actually happens from 2:15 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow. Yesterday, they released seven GOP members' letter, sort of as we say, well, to adjust the bill and some of the changes that they have made. Tell me about them and what you think you like and anything that you dislike.
Yes, there have been a number of last-minute changes. And I mean, many of them we supported and advocated for. Earlier this year, I stood up and I said the draft bill was not good enough. And there were some must-haves and nice-to-haves. And I'm glad to report that all the must-haves that we asked for earlier this year are now in the bill. So it's a better work product now. There's folks like Senator Gallego, which were an ethics position, and there is now an ethics position under a provision in the bill. So that was a good moment for him. And Senator Cortez Masto pushed for a lot of law enforcement, and those are now in the bill. And we have seen law enforcement groups come out in support of the bill. There's been a lot of improvements there as well. Initially, there were some concerns from the banks about crypto as well. Actually, there are a number of new provisions, things they can do to grow their business in crypto. So it offers something for everyone. And I think we're going to get enough votes because of all the wins that every party got at the table.
It seems like with the banks, one of the biggest points of disapproval was that the crypto industry would be able to offer big interest opportunities, big yields on stablecoin. The offerings presuppose somebody had a bunch of stablecoins in your operation and they could get some interest paid on it. Banks worried that that would be like a magnet pulling business away from our banking opportunities and offerings. Some people look at that and say, well, why don't you guys make better offerings? But where do you come down on all of that? And I know you felt that you should be able to pay interest on anything you want to pay your customers interest on. Do you think the banks will accept that?
Well, that's right. And we came out initially saying that we should be able to pay interest to our customers. And why not? America's savers should make more money on their money. And we should have a level playing field for that. And we heard concerns from the big banks that the community banks would be having a pause. But the White House Council of Economic Advisers indicated the fears were overstated and that this kind of stablecoin rewards wouldn't actually cause harm to consumers. And so we did not think there was anything behind it. We've done... actually, I should mention there is a provision that came in at the last minute, something kind of like a circuit breaker that would give the Treasury Secretary the ability to see if there is harm to the community banks over the next 18 months. And we're still looking at that. We don't think it was necessary, but it gives people more comfort. You know, more power to them. And it's just another way of making concessions and compromises along with everyone else to try to see if we can get something done here for America.
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Armstrong, B. (2026, September 14). Clarity Act faces CRUCIAL 60-vote Senate test as Coinbase CEO voices optimism [Interview transcript]. Fox Business. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1348108/
MLA
Brian Armstrong. "Clarity Act faces CRUCIAL 60-vote Senate test as Coinbase CEO voices optimism." Fox Business, 14 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1348108/.
BibTeX
@misc{armstrong2026_1348108,
author = {Brian Armstrong},
title = {Clarity Act faces CRUCIAL 60-vote Senate test as Coinbase CEO voices optimism},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Fox Business. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {sep},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1348108/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
