{"id":78391,"date":"2026-09-19T20:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/brian-armstrong-says-wsj-will-blame-coinbase-for-claritys-collapse\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T20:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:37:12","slug":"brian-armstrong-says-wsj-will-blame-coinbase-for-claritys-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/brian-armstrong-says-wsj-will-blame-coinbase-for-claritys-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Armstrong Says WSJ Will Blame Coinbase for CLARITY&#8217;s Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Brian Armstrong said on Sept. 19 the WSJ is preparing a story blaming Coinbase for the CLARITY Act\u2019s defeat.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">The bill failed a Senate cloture vote on Sept. 15, and bitcoin ETFs shed $450 million the same day.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Armstrong says the SEC and CFTC can now set crypto rules under existing authority, without Congress.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>A Pre-Emptive Strike<\/h2>\n<p>Armstrong did not wait for the alleged article to come out; instead, he took to X and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/brian_armstrong\/status\/2101169966271938691\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">aired his thoughts, stating<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cHere we go again!. The WSJ is working on a story blaming Coinbase and me personally for the CLARITY Act not passing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He then went a step further, accusing the paper of \u201cregurgitating bank lobby talking points\u201d and claiming the Journal \u201ctakes direction from bank lobbyists instead of reporting the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As of Saturday, the outlet had not published the story Armstrong described, so its actual argument is still unknown. What is known is the record the paper would be drawing on, and Armstrong laid out his version of it in what he called \u201cthe boring TLDR.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What Happened in January?<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-01-14\/brian-armstrong-pulls-support-for-crypto-market-structure-bill-clarity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">case against Armstrong<\/a> starts on Jan. 14, when on the eve of a scheduled Senate Banking Committee markup, he announced that Coinbase could not support the draft bill, writing that \u201cno bill is better than a bad bill.\u201d The committee <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2026\/01\/21\/coinbase-andreessen-horowitz-clarity-act-senate-banking-agriculture-bill-draft-crypto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">postponed the session<\/a> almost immediately, and the markup was not rescheduled for months.<\/p>\n<p>Armstrong\u2019s objections centered on stablecoin yield, a sore point for banks, which argue that interest-like rewards on stablecoins could pull deposits out of the banking system. In Saturday\u2019s post, he said he opposed the January draft because it \u201cneeded a lot of work on DeFi, tokenization, CFTC authority, and stablecoin rewards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenized securities, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission\u2019s (CFTC) reach and yield all had to change before Coinbase would sign on.<\/p>\n<h2>From Blocker to Backer<\/h2>\n<p>By Armstrong\u2019s account, the delay did its job:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>All four of the items I called out were fixed in the draft that then went through the committee about four months later.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The industry rallied behind a yield compromise in early May, and the Senate Banking Committee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.banking.senate.gov\/newsroom\/majority\/chairman-scott-senate-banking-committee-advance-clarity-act-in-historic-bipartisan-vote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">advanced the bill 15-9<\/a> on May 14, with Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Ruben Gallego both voting in favor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe final draft of CLARITY that went to the Senate was great, and I strongly supported it,\u201d Armstrong said. Coinbase <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/coinbase-ceo-presses-senate-to-pass-clarity-act-this-week\/\">lobbied hard for it<\/a> through the summer, and days before the floor vote, Armstrong predicted crypto <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/featured\/armstrong-clarity-act-senate-vote-cftc-sec\/\">clarity would come either way<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Is the Blame Game Starting Now?<\/h2>\n<p>Because the bill is dead for now, and the vote was close enough for everyone to find a villain.<\/p>\n<p>The cloture vote on Sept. 15 fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance, even after <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/clarity-act-made-126-concessions-and-still-couldnt-get-60-votes\/\">sponsors made 126 concessions<\/a>. That package included a Treasury \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/clarity-act-made-126-concessions-and-still-couldnt-get-60-votes\/\">circuit breaker<\/a>\u201d meant to stop stablecoin rewards from draining community-bank deposits, the same fight Armstrong picked in January.<\/p>\n<p>It is worth mentioning that Alsobrooks and Gallego, who backed the bill in committee, voted no on cloture.<\/p>\n<p>Markets took the hit as U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/bitcoin-etf\/fidelity-leads-450m-bitcoin-etf-exit-as-senate-vote-fails\/\">bled $450 million<\/a> on Sept. 15, and bitcoin\u2019s price slid below $76,000. In Washington, the finger-pointing started right away. Rep. Maxine Waters <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/waters-and-emmer-clash-over-clarity-act-failure-and-trump-deals\/\">blamed missing ethics safeguards<\/a> around the president\u2019s crypto ventures, while Rep. Tom Emmer <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/waters-and-emmer-clash-over-clarity-act-failure-and-trump-deals\/\">called the defeat<\/a> a mere delay.<\/p>\n<h2>What Comes After CLARITY?<\/h2>\n<p>Armstrong has already moved on, and <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/sec-and-cftc-take-the-wheel-after-clarity-vote-failure\/\">after the vote, he said<\/a>, \u201cThe CLARITY Act didn\u2019t advance in the Senate today, which was a disappointment,\u201d arguing that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC have the tools to write rules themselves. SEC Chair Paul Atkins pledged to \u201cact decisively within the SEC\u2019s statutory authority,\u201d and CFTC <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/sec-and-cftc-take-the-wheel-after-clarity-vote-failure\/\">Chairman Mike Selig said<\/a> his agency is \u201clocked in and ready to ship its rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The legislative door is not fully shut, as <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/7-democratic-senators-vow-to-keep-pushing-clarity-act-after-setback\/\">seven Democratic senators vowed<\/a> on Sept. 16 to keep pushing the bill.<\/p>\n<p>Whether Armstrong\u2019s pre-emptive defense holds up depends on what the Journal actually prints, but he closed Saturday\u2019s post with a prediction of his own: \u201cpeople are smart enough to see through it these days, and it backfires on them every time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/crypto-news\/armstrong-wsj-coinbase-clarity-act-blame\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways Brian Armstrong said on Sept. 19 the WSJ is preparing a story blaming Coinbase for the CLARITY Act\u2019s defeat. The bill failed a Senate cloture vote on Sept. 15, and bitcoin ETFs shed $450 million the same day. Armstrong says the SEC and CFTC can now [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3947362404,"featured_media":78392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78391"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3947362404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}