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Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has accused major U.S. banks of attempting to sabotage President Donald Trump\u2019s pro-crypto agenda, warning that proposed changes to a Senate market structure bill could stifle innovation, ban entire categories of digital assets and strip Americans of the ability to earn yield on stablecoins.<\/p>\n
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox Business<\/em> anchor Maria Bartiromo on Mornings With Maria<\/em>, Armstrong said<\/a> the latest draft of legislation emerging from the Senate Banking Committee represents a \u201cgiveaway to the banks\u201d that risks regulatory overreach and undermines recent bipartisan progress on crypto policy.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter reviewing the Senate Banking draft over the last 48 hours, Coinbase unfortunately can\u2019t support this bill as written,\u201d Armstrong said, citing provisions that would effectively ban tokenized securities<\/a>, impose broad prohibitions on decentralized finance (DeFi), weaken the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and eliminate rewards on stablecoins.<\/p>\n While praising the Senate\u2019s broader efforts \u2014 including work led by Senators Tim Scott and Cynthia Lummis \u2014 Armstrong said the draft text circulated earlier this week<\/a> raised \u201cdangerous\u201d issues that would be harder to fix once the bill reached the Senate floor.<\/p>\n At the center of the dispute is stablecoin rewards. Armstrong argued that recent legislation, including the GENIUS Act signed<\/a> into law under President Trump, explicitly enabled stablecoin issuers to pay yield, a feature he described as critical to giving Americans better returns on their money.<\/p>\n \u201cThe banks are really coming and trying to undermine the president\u2019s crypto agenda,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to protect their own profit margins, taking money out of the pockets of hardworking, average Americans and putting it into the coffers of big banks hitting record profits.\u201d<\/p>\n Armstrong contrasted stablecoins \u2014 which under the GENIUS Act must be backed 100% by short-term U.S. Treasuries \u2014 with traditional fractional-reserve banking, arguing that stablecoins carry less systemic risk. \u201cThere is no fractional reserve with these stablecoins,\u201d he said. \u201cThey should not be subject to the same regulation as banks.\u201d<\/p>\n Bartiromo pressed Armstrong on whether crypto platforms should face the same regulatory burdens as banks, including deposit insurance and investor protections.<\/p>\n Armstrong responded that such frameworks exist primarily to manage risks created by fractional-reserve lending, noting that FDIC insurance only covers deposits up to $250,000.<\/p>\n \u201cIf customers want to opt in to lending out their funds, they can do that,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need a bank license to do that. What requires a bank license is lending out people\u2019s money without their permission.\u201d<\/p>\nStablecoins at the center of the crypto conflict<\/h2>\n