Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is stepping up pressure on the authorities in Washington, pressing them to recognize that the United States has become a laggard compared with the other G20 countries as cryptocurrency regulation continues to progress around the world.

Many G20 countries have already established supervision of cash trading — the European Union has operated under its Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) since the framework took full effect at the end of 2024 — and the United Kingdom approved its own broad regulation only a few months ago. Armstrong has described the United States as a “major outlier” on crypto regulation, noting that most G20 nations already have regulatory frameworks in place. Against this backdrop, he is calling on the Senate to approve the CLARITY Act on September 15.

A Washington Policy Moment

The CLARITY Act on Digital Markets would spell out the respective jurisdictional boundaries of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It would also enable exchanges, brokers, and token issuers to register at the federal level.

🚨 BREAKING: 🇺🇸 Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says the U.S. is a “major outlier” on crypto regulation as most G20 nations already have frameworks in place. Armstrong is urging the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act on September 15, saying the U.S. needs clear rules to stay… pic.twitter.com/6OFItsyc2S — THC Humor 💹🧲 (@THChumor) August 23, 2026

The proposed bill is intended to do away with the enforcement-based model that has led liquidity and developers to flee to more attractive offshore jurisdictions offering clear compliance guidelines. That model was on display in the SEC’s June 2023 lawsuit against Coinbase itself over unregistered trading, a case the agency later moved to dismiss. The Senate vote also follows the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law signed in July 2025, which set rules for payment stablecoins and left token classification and trading-venue oversight as the principal open questions the CLARITY Act is designed to answer.

UK Precedent, US Crossroads

Uncertainty is the main hurdle to the expansion of the U.S. market, a concern mentioned by institutional investors, ETF issuers, stablecoin providers such as Circle and Tether, and Layer 1 ecosystems such as Ethereum and Solana. Source: Bloomberg Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, swung to a loss while posting another revenue drop in May, according to the same report.

According to CoinMarketCap data, the U.S. market has been losing its share of the global market since 2022. Clearly defined rules could make it possible for banks to custody digital assets and enable on-chain settlements, while also allowing asset managers such as BlackRock and Fidelity to take part in the system.

Why Clarity Matters Now

In the United Kingdom, regulation under the Financial Services and Markets Act — which placed responsibility for crypto regulation with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) — is offering an alternative model to the U.S. approach criticized by Coinbase: one that protects consumers while still allowing innovative solutions to be developed. Source: Reuters

If the CLARITY Act passes in the Senate on September 15, attention will then turn to House–Senate reconciliation and the implementation of the law into 2026; the House passed its version of the bill in July 2025 on a bipartisan 294–134 vote, which is why reconciliation rather than a fresh House vote would be the next step. Should the legislative effort fail, the U.S. could be left behind as other regions define and set standards at the world level for digital assets.