The White House is weighing withdrawing support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act after Coinbase pulled its backing on Wednesday, a source close to the administration reported. The move reportedly followed disagreements over stablecoin yield rules and industry structure.
Officials called the decision ‘unilateral’ and a ‘rug pull’ that surprised administration staff. The source said the administration may drop the bill unless Coinbase returns to negotiations and accepts a compromise on stablecoin yield provisions, adding “President Trump’s bill at the end of the day, not Brian Armstrong’s.”
On Wednesday, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, said the exchange could not support the Senate Banking Committee draft in its current form and wrote “We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill. Hopefully we can all get to a better draft.” He warned the draft could amount to a ban on tokenized equities, curb decentralized finance, expand government access to financial records, weaken the CFTC and centralize power at the SEC.
Armstrong also said the proposal risks “killing rewards” on stablecoins, reflecting industry concern about competition with banks (Ed. note: banks argue high stablecoin yields could trigger deposit outflows). The crypto community remains split, with some supporting Coinbase and others saying one exchange should not veto industry-wide legislation; Nic Carter wrote in support, while another user wrote that “Coinbase is not crypto.”
