Clear Act Stalled, Armstrong Turns to a New Path of SEC and CFTC Regulation

According to Woofun AI, Coinbase Global (COIN.US) CEO Brian Armstrong officially announced adjustments to the strategic focus after the Clarification Act was at a legislative impasse, shifting from promoting federal legislation to direct regulatory communication with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

This decision marks a fundamental shift in the industry's lobbying path, and aims to make up for the uncertainty brought about by lack of legislation through administrative supervision channels.

The Clarity Act was originally seen as a key milestone in establishing the federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. The purpose was to clarify the jurisdictional boundaries of various federal agencies, thereby paving the way for mainstream financial institutions such as banks to enter the field. However, two days after the US Senate failed to push for the bill to pass, Armstrong confessed in a joint interview with “The Daily Wolf” and Yahoo Finance that the legislative process was blocked due to political interference, and it seems that the bill is currently hopeless. For a long time, Armstrong and his team made every effort to push for the implementation of the bill through intensive lobbying in Washington and relying on the FairShake Political Action Committee to invest large amounts of political campaign funds. This year, the conflict between Coinbase (COIN.US) and the US banking industry has further intensified. The core of the dispute is whether third-party platforms have the right to provide yield services for users' idle stablecoin balances; the banking industry insists that such products essentially constitute regulated banking services, thus triggering a fierce compliance game.

According to data compiled by Woofun AI, despite the lack of short-term legal guarantees due to legislative failure, recent active intervention by regulators may accelerate the industry's adaptation to the new regulations. Devin Ryan, head of fintech research at Citizens Bank, pointed out that this regulatory dynamic may instead prompt the cryptocurrency sector to integrate more quickly into the existing financial system in the short term.

From a regulatory enforcement perspective, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission are actively promoting more cryptocurrency products to enter the US market. Earlier on Thursday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that US trading platforms would be allowed to provide tokenized stock services, but with a strict premise: listed companies must be notified 30 days before trading begins.

Meanwhile, last week the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved the listing of precious metals-related perpetual contracts on the prediction market platform Kalshi. In addition to Kalshi's approval case, Coinbase (COIN.US) is also actively seeking to list perpetual contracts related to other assets, covering individual stocks and indices. Armstrong reflected deeply on this. He pointed out that the legislation was supposed to be a good thing for the US, but for Coinbase (COIN.US), it meant greater competitive pressure from Wall Street giants. He said bluntly that perhaps choosing the current path of regulatory communication would be more beneficial to the company, because Coinbase (COIN.US) is one of the few companies willing to stick to this difficult path.

This strategic shift reveals the industry's pragmatic response when legislation is blocked: by adapting to the existing regulatory framework in exchange for business certainty, rather than waiting for the perfect legislative environment. As the SEC and CFTC gradually liberalize complex derivatives such as tokenized stocks and perpetual contracts, the competitive landscape between traditional financial giants and cryptographic native platforms is being reshaped.