COIN
The crypto rulebook is still in play
Coinbase is once again at the center of Washington’s favorite hobby: trying to write a crypto rulebook without setting the house on fire. On Sept. 6, Coinbase policy chief Faryar Shirzad said the company remains cautiously optimistic that the CLARITY Act can advance when the Senate holds a crucial procedural vote on Sept. 15.
The vibe here is less “done deal” and more “please, everyone keep your hands inside the ride.” Shirzad said the industry has spent years building bipartisan support, but the math is tight. If too many Republicans peel off, Democrats would need to step in to keep the bill alive.
The real drama: ethics, DeFi, and banking worries
The biggest fly in the ointment may be ethics language tied to President Trump’s crypto interests. Democrats say the current safeguards aren’t enough, while Republicans argue the bill already includes meaningful restrictions.
Other sticking points include:
- DeFi provisions
- exchange rules
- stablecoin-related banking concerns
In other words, this is a classic Washington special: a bill that could reshape a trillion-dollar industry getting tangled up in a mix of policy, politics, and personality.
Why investors should care
If CLARITY moves forward, Coinbase gets one step closer to a more predictable operating environment — the kind of thing public markets love almost as much as they love buybacks. If it fails, Shirzad says agencies would try to fill the gap with a pile of rules anyway, which is another way of saying the regulatory chaos doesn’t exactly disappear.
Either way, Coinbase wants to be more than a crypto exchange. The company is angling to become a broader financial platform spanning investing, lending, borrowing, tokenization, stablecoins, perpetual futures, and 24/7 markets.
Big picture: this is less about one vote and more about whether crypto graduates from the Wild West to something closer to a proper neighborhood with street signs.