Coinbase pulls support from crypto market structure bill

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the prominent U.S. crypto exchange is withdrawing support from the U.S. Senate's crypto market structure bill.

Armstrong, whose company has been highly involved in the negotiations in Washington, said in a post on social media site X on Wednesday that there were "too many issues" with the draft bill released on Monday night. The Senate Banking Committee is still scheduled to hold a hearing on the legislation beginning Thursday morning and intends to vote on advancing it to the overall Senate.

Armstrong's issues include "a defacto ban on tokenized equities," proposed regulations on decentralized finance, how it approaches the CFTC and proposed amendments on the bill.

"We appreciate all the hard work by members of the Senate to reach a bi-partisan outcome, but this version would be materially worse than the current status quo," he wrote. "We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill. Hopefully, we can all get to a better draft."

Lawmakers have proposed over 75 amendments to the bill, though typically many would be defeated or withdrawn before they're added to the actual legislation, so it remains unclear what the finished product will look like as Chairman Tim Scott's committee begins formal consideration of the language.

Armstrong added in a further post that he's "actually quite optimistic that we will get to the right outcome with continued effort" and that the company will keep engaging in talks on the bill.

One of the top U.S. crypto lobbying organizations, the Digital Chamber, issued a statement suggesting it's still on board with the Senate's process as the bill is revised.

"While the Senate Banking Committee draft is a work in progress, we are actively pushing for targeted improvements and offering amendments to strengthen it," the group said in a Wednesday statement. "Regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s markup, we will continue engaging at every step of the process to help shape a final bill that works for our members, innovators, and U.S. consumers."

Another prominent U.S. CEO, Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse, posted praise for the bill on X, calling it "a massive step forward in providing workable frameworks for crypto, while continuing to protect consumers. Ripple (and I) know firsthand that clarity beats chaos, and this bill’s success is crypto’s success."

Lawmakers are still negotiating provisions of the bill, which aims to define how federal regulators like the SEC and CFTC can oversee the crypto markets. Numerous provisions have proven contentious, including portions of the bill addressing whether stablecoin companies can offer yield rewards to users, how anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations might apply to decentralized finance, companies' registration pathway and SEC disclosure rules.

It's not just the crypto industry that has issues; lawmakers are still negotiating ethics provisions in the bill. Democrats have long expressed concerns that President Donald Trump and his family are profiting off of crypto, and have previously said any bill would need to address this concern before it can advance.

In an exclusive interview with CoinDesk on Wednesday, Scott said he still had hopes that deals can be struck over the final details, noting that the "all-hands-on-desk" approach in recent days has been peppered with "colorful language and strong opinions."

"People are very passionate about this issue," he said.

A spokesman for the Blockchain Association, another of the leading crypto trade groups advocating for friendly legislation, said it's discussing Coinbase's position and hasn't made a decision yet about its next steps. 

As rifts developed in the crypto industry's support, the banking lobbyists continued to attack the legislation's allowance of stablecoin rewards. The American Bankers Association delivered a petition to senators signed by more than 3,200 banks who want a ban on stablecoin yields and rewards.

"These coins were never intended to be a store of value like a bank account,” the petition contended. “Unlike banks, which reinvest deposits directly into their communities, crypto businesses offering stablecoin rewards will siphon trillions from local lending, leaving less money available for car loans, agricultural loans, mortgages, and small business borrowing that drive local economies.”

That debate over allowing yield has been at the top of Coinbase's priorities in the talks over legislative details, with the company saying from the start that protecting crypto rewards was important enough to force them to walk away from an insufficient effort. Chairman Scott told CoinDesk that there has been new language on that point circulating among the lawmakers and stakeholders, and he was hopeful that the parties could agree to a final approach, though they'd hadn't yet.

UPDATE (Jan. 14, 2026, 22:02 UTC): Adds additional detail.

UPDATE (Jan. 14, 2026, 22:14 UTC): Adds statement from the Digital Chamber.

UPDATE (Jan. 14, 2026, 22:42 UTC): Adds comment from Ripple CEO and information on bank lobbying.