White House Panics as Coinbase Abandons Crypto Bill! 🚨💸

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Key Highlights

  • The White House, that paragon of bureaucratic poise, has been reduced to a quivering leaf in the face of Coinbase’s defection, threatening to yank its support for the CLARITY Act like a child tossing a tantrum over a broken toy.
  • Coinbase, the crypto knight in shining armor, cited concerns over DeFi restrictions, privacy risks, and CFTC’s authority-though one suspects it’s more about protecting its own throne than the realm of digital freedom.
  • Lawmakers, ever the circus performers, remain divided, leaving the bill’s fate as uncertain as a Russian roulette chamber. Yet, some industry “experts” still cling to the hope of a happy ending, as if the plot were a Tolstoy novel with a twist.

The White House, that paragon of bureaucratic poise, has been reduced to a quivering leaf in the face of Coinbase’s defection, threatening to yank its support for the CLARITY Act like a child tossing a tantrum over a broken toy. 🐉

The move, timed with the markup session’s arrival, has sparked whispers of chaos, as if the bill were a dragon that needed taming, and Coinbase had just handed it a sword. 🗡️

According to government sources, the White House views Coinbase’s decision as a “rug pull,” a term so 2020 it’s practically a relic. The administration, ever the dramatics, has called it a betrayal worthy of a Byzantine emperor. 🏰

🚨SCOOP: The White House is considering pulling its support for the crypto market structure bill entirely if @coinbase does not come back to the table with a yield agreement that satisfies the banks and gets everyone to a deal, a source close to the Trump administration tells me.…

– Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 17, 2026

Administration may pull political support

According to Eleanor Terett, a government official who was conversant with the situation indicated that the administration is looking into removing its political support to the legislation if coinbase “does not come back to the table with a yield agreement that satisfies the banks and gets everyone to a deal”. 🧙‍♂️

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong issued a statement late Wednesday, highlighting concerns with the draft of the bill. Armstrong criticized provisions that could effectively restrict tokenized equities, impose limitations on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and reduce the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 🧙‍♂️

After reviewing the Senate Banking draft text over the last 48hrs, Coinbase unfortunately can’t support the bill as written.

There are too many issues, including:

– A defacto ban on tokenized equities
– DeFi prohibitions, giving the government unlimited access to your financial…

– Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 14, 2026

He further noted that the exchange was not going to back the bill as it is, highlighting privacy and innovation risks in the digital asset space. 🧠

Reactions of industry and government

The move has elicited mixed feelings in the industry. Other analysts assume that Coinbase is more worried about its competitive advantage because the bill might end up giving preference to other exchanges and financial institutions. 🤝

In the meantime, the White House has emphasized that the bill is aimed at controlling the larger digital economy, and not a specific exchange. 🧠

Authorities also observed that the CLARITY Act is connected to the policy agenda of the previous President Trump, which underlines the political importance of the bill in addition to the opposition of Coinbase. There are a number of senators who have promised to resume the legislation. 🧙‍♂️

Senator Mark Warner, a Democratic senator representing Virginia, said that the bill has a way forward, and Senator Cynthia Lummis admitted that it would take time to review and revise the bill. 🧠

The leaders of the industry, such as Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, have been optimistic that the bill might be passed in the coming few weeks, with positive talks with Congress members. 🧙‍♂️

While the crypto bill might be delayed to keep working on it, I am very confident that a bill will get done soon. I have spoken to over 10 senators on both sides of the aisle in the past 24 hrs and I believe they all are working in good faith to get something done. Always gets…

– Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) January 14, 2026

Background and broader context

The CLARITY Act is designed to create more explicit regulations on digital assets, such as stablecoins, tokenized securities, and DeFi platforms. Although the bill may open capital-raising opportunities to crypto businesses and bring about regulatory certainty, opponents such as Coinbase caution that the new regulations may be oppressive to innovation. 🧙‍♂️

The controversy is preceded by comparable controversies in 2025, when large U.S. exchanges and blockchain supporters collided on the issue of privacy, DeFi regulation, and the role of federal authorities in the regulation of crypto. 🐉

At this point, the timeline of the bill is not clear. Although the markup session is on hiatus, legislators are considering amendments to support industry interests. 🧠

According to market observers, any delay in federal regulation may affect the adoption of digital assets, trading, and competitiveness of the U.S. in the international crypto market. 🚨

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2026-01-17 11:51