Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has said the U.S. crypto industry could get clearer federal rules regardless of whether the CLARITY Act clears its key Senate test on Sept. 15.
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong expects US crypto regulatory clarity regardless of whether the CLARITY Act advances on Sept. 15.
- Armstrong said the SEC and CFTC are prepared to publish crypto rules if the legislation fails to move forward.
- Ethics rules for elected officials remain under negotiation, though Armstrong said the two sides appear close to an agreement.
- Armstrong maintained his $400,000 Bitcoin target for 2030 and said the bottom is in for the current cycle.
CNBC reported Wednesday that Armstrong expects either Congress or federal regulators to provide the industry with a clearer framework after the vote, arguing that the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are prepared to move forward with their own rules if lawmakers fail to advance the legislation.
“If it passes, great, we’ve got legislation,” Armstrong said. “Frankly, if it doesn’t pass, it’s also going to be a good outcome because the SEC and the CFTC have said that they’re ready to publish rulemaking, and we’re going to get regulatory clarity one way or another on the 15th or the day or two after.”
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act would establish a federal market structure for digital assets and divide oversight between the SEC and CFTC. Tokens treated as securities would remain under the SEC, while decentralized digital commodities such as Bitcoin would fall under the CFTC’s jurisdiction.
Crypto exchanges, brokers and other market participants would face federal requirements under the proposed framework, while provisions covering stablecoins and other parts of the digital asset market have become central to negotiations.
CLARITY Act still faces a difficult Senate vote
The Sept. 15 action is a procedural cloture vote requiring 60 senators to advance the legislation, not a final vote to pass the bill.
Armstrong said negotiations have produced bipartisan compromises and described support for the legislation as extending across crypto companies, banks and law enforcement groups. Coinbase’s main concerns with earlier versions of the proposal have been addressed, he said.
“There’s been a lot of good bipartisan compromise, hundreds of pages of input from both sides,” Armstrong said, adding that the “must-have issues” previously raised by Coinbase “have now been resolved.”
The vote still faces political obstacles. As crypto.news previously reported, disagreements over ethics requirements and stablecoin rewards remained unresolved days before the scheduled Senate action.
Republicans need support from Democrats or independents to reach the 60-vote threshold. The shortened congressional calendar has placed more pressure on the legislation because lawmakers have limited time to complete further action before the November midterm elections.
Armstrong, however, expects regulatory work to continue even if the bill stalls. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has said the agency is preparing separate crypto rules that could operate with or without the legislation.
Ethics provisions remain under negotiation
Rules governing elected officials’ digital asset holdings remain one of the pieces under discussion, Armstrong said.
Asked whether the bill sufficiently addresses potential conflicts of interest, he said “the details are still being worked out and negotiated.”
According to Armstrong, the White House has presented an offer containing what he described as a “very strong ethics provision.” Democrats have sought requirements that go further, including divestiture.
The two sides “appear to be very close to a solution,” he said.
Ethics requirements have become one of the main points of contention ahead of the vote, alongside disagreements over stablecoin rewards and protections for decentralized finance developers.
Armstrong’s comments came as parts of the banking industry continue to challenge provisions affecting stablecoins. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has criticized Coinbase over the issue, arguing that the exchange is seeking regulatory advantages against traditional banks through the legislation’s stablecoin rules.
Without naming Dimon in his response, Armstrong said companies with large payments businesses have a “competitive issue” and accused critics of “talking their own book.”
He pointed to Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon and Fidelity as financial institutions that support the legislation.
Coinbase sees agentic finance as its next large market
Outside the regulatory debate, Armstrong identified payments made by autonomous software agents as an emerging business opportunity for Coinbase.
He described agentic finance as “still early” but called it “the big TAM that’s on the horizon.”
Coinbase has been building its agent payment infrastructure around Base, the USDC stablecoin and x402, a payment protocol designed to let software make payments over the internet.
“Well over 90% of the agentic payments that have happened, you know, so far about 165 million of them, they’ve over 90% have happened on Base, the blockchain we created with x402, the protocol we created, and with USDC,” Armstrong said.
“I think it’s fair to say at this point we have a leading position in agentic finance.”
Coinbase has spent much of 2026 expanding that infrastructure. In July, the company described Base, USDC and x402 as central pieces of its agentic finance strategy as Base payments crossed 100 million. Its tools allow software agents to make payments, buy services and operate wallets using rules set by users or developers.
The company has moved the technology into business payments as well. Coinbase Business began supporting USDC payments initiated by AI agents through x402 in July, while developers were given tools for adding the payment standard to online services.
Armstrong keeps $400,000 Bitcoin target for 2030
Armstrong used the CNBC interview to repeat his bullish long-term view on Bitcoin, saying a price of $400,000 by 2030 remains “a reasonable target.”
He went further on the current market cycle, saying “the bottom is in on Bitcoin in this most recent cycle.”
The comments extend a view Armstrong expressed in August, when he said Bitcoin could be starting its next bull cycle as the cryptocurrency traded above $72,000. At the time, he identified the Sept. 15 CLARITY Act vote as one of the next major policy events facing the market.
His longer-term Bitcoin outlook has remained aggressive. Armstrong has previously argued that crypto adoption could reach billions of people by 2030, while maintaining that digital assets will increasingly be used across payments and financial services.
For now, his immediate focus remains on Washington, where the Sept. 15 cloture vote will determine whether the CLARITY Act can move forward to Senate debate. If it fails to clear that hurdle, Armstrong expects the SEC and CFTC to proceed with rulemaking within days of the vote.
