Coinbase CEO: WSJ is trying to blame Coinbase for the failure of the CLARITY Act to pass.

BlockBeats news, September 19: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted on X that WSJ is preparing a report blaming Coinbase and himself for the failure of the U.S. CLARITY Act to pass. Armstrong said WSJ's previous coverage of the CLARITY Act was "clearly hostile" and repeated the views of banking lobbying groups.

Armstrong stated that in January of this year, he did indeed oppose a version of the CLARITY Act draft advancing to a committee vote, because that version still had major flaws on issues such as DeFi, tokenization, CFTC regulatory authority, and stablecoin rewards, and "could harm the crypto industry." At the time, the bill also lacked sufficient support to pass.

He said that afterward Coinbase worked with multiple parties to push for amendments to the bill, and all four of the above issues were resolved in the version submitted to the committee for review about 4 months later. Armstrong said the final version of the CLARITY Act submitted to the Senate is "very good," and he strongly supports it.

Armstrong emphasized that his opposition to the early draft did not mean opposition to the CLARITY Act, but rather a desire to promote a more complete crypto regulatory framework, and said he will continue to push for clear rules that are fair to the crypto industry in the future.