Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the cryptocurrency sector is set to achieve regulatory clarity irrespective of whether the Senate approves the Clarity Act on September 15.
During a CNBC interview on Wednesday, Armstrong expressed that passage of the bill would deliver formal legislation, but noted that a rejection would also yield a favorable result because the SEC and CFTC have indicated they are prepared to issue rulemaking, ensuring regulatory certainty one way or another on or shortly after the 15th.
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act represents a significant U.S. legislative initiative designed to eliminate regulatory ambiguity by formally splitting cryptocurrency supervision between the SEC for security tokens and the CFTC for decentralized commodities like bitcoin. The proposal seeks to establish an official federal rulebook for digital asset exchanges, brokers, and stablecoins, supplying a defined legal framework that industry professionals believe will hasten institutional participation.
Armstrong mentioned that the legislation enjoys widespread backing approaching the vote.
He noted that substantial bipartisan cooperation has occurred, incorporating hundreds of pages of feedback from both political parties, and mentioned that law enforcement agencies, banking institutions, and digital asset firms support the measure. Furthermore, he stated that the essential priorities previously highlighted by Coinbase have now been settled.
A remaining open item involves the legislation’s ethics rules regarding digital asset ownership by elected officials. When questioned about whether the measure sufficiently handles conflicts of interest, Armstrong replied that the specifics are currently undergoing final discussion and negotiation.
He observed that the White House has already presented a proposal containing a very robust ethics rule, whereas Democrats have asked for additional measures that would mandate divestment.
He added that the two factions appear to be nearing an agreement.
Armstrong addressed remarks from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who previously contended that Coinbase is leveraging the legislation’s stablecoin clauses to engage in regulatory arbitrage against traditional banks.
Without mentioning Dimon directly, Armstrong argued that critics operating large payment networks face a competitive dilemma and are advocating for their own interests. He pointed out that institutions like Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and Fidelity have endorsed the legislation.
Additionally, Armstrong highlighted agentic finance as an upcoming expansion sector, describing it as nascent while representing a massive total addressable market on the horizon, defining TAM as the primary revenue potential should a product capture all demand in a specific sector.
He pointed out that infrastructure developed by Coinbase manages the majority of agentic transactions processed thus far.
Armstrong stated that well over 90% of the approximately 165 million agentic payments executed up to now have occurred on Base, the blockchain developed alongside the x402 protocol and USDC. He asserted that Coinbase holds a commanding standing in agentic finance.
At the same time, Armstrong reaffirmed his extended forecast for bitcoin, telling CNBC that reaching $400,000 by the year 2030 remains a plausible objective and that the market bottom has been established for bitcoin in the current cycle.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/10/crypto-wins-regardless-of-clarity-act-vote-coinbase-s-armstrong-says.
