Why Coinbase derailed the crypto industry’s political future

Brian Armstrong, main enforcement serviceman of Coinbase Global Inc., speaks to members of the media connected Capitol Hill successful Washington, DC, US, connected Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. | Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

January was going to beryllium a landmark period for the crypto industry. The Senate would commencement negotiating the finer details of the CLARITY Act, a large instrumentality that would yet enshrine the cardinal operation of however the crypto marketplace could legally run successful the United States: what integer assets counted arsenic a information versus a commodity, what regulatory responsibilities companies had to abide by, what ineligible protections consumers could have. The House had already passed their mentation months ago. The White House was acceptable to motion it. Democrats and Republicans seemed to hold connected the bill's fundamentals.

And crypto, which had spent decades navigat …

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