Today in Crypto: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said a market structure bill could return to markup within weeks, the London Stock Exchange launched a tokenized settlement platform, and the US Senate Banking Committee scrapped a planned markup of crypto legislation.
Coinbase CEO expects market structure bill markup ‘in a few weeks‘
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has weighed in on the future of a cryptocurrency market structure bill under consideration in the US Senate less than 24 hours after he said the exchange could not support the current version of the legislation.
In a Thursday CNBC interview in the US Capitol building, Armstrong spoke after posting on X Wednesday that Coinbase was pulling its support for the CLARITY Act, a bill to establish digital asset market structure. Members of the US Senate Banking Committee had been scheduled for a markup of the bill on Thursday, which was postponed following Armstrong’s post.
“We developed this concern that if [the bill] went into a markup, the only way to edit some of that base text would have been through an amendment, and amendments had already been submitted,” said the Coinbase CEO. “And so we didn’t think it was prudent to come out of committee with a bunch of these issues in the bill which would have been catastrophic for the average American consumer.”
Armstrong added:
“I think we’ve got a chance to do a new draft, and hopefully get into a markup in a few weeks.”
Republican lawmakers in control of the US House of Representatives and Senate initially expected the CLARITY Act to be signed into law by 2026.
However, many industry leaders, banks and experts have expressed concerns about provisions of the bill dealing with decentralized finance, interest on payment stablecoins and how the legislation would delegate regulation between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
“Inaction is unacceptable,” Cody Carbone, CEO of crypto advocacy organization The Digital Chamber, told Cointelegraph on advancement of the CLARITY Act. “We cannot afford to walk away from the table at a moment when clarity is within reach. Market structure must move forward, and the only path to longstanding policy is getting back to the negotiating table and finishing the job.”
Senator Tim Scott, who chairs the Banking Committee, said on Wednesday that the markup postponement was a “brief pause” and there were “good faith” bipartisan discussions continuing to happen. Members of the Senate are scheduled for a state work period next week, likely pushing any potential markup to at least the end of January.
LSEG brings cash money onto blockchain rails with DiSH
The London Stock Exchange Group has rolled out a new digital settlement service to bring commercial bank money onto blockchain rails.
The service, called Digital Settlement House (DiSH), enables instant settlement across both blockchain-based and traditional payment networks, operating around the clock across multiple currencies and jurisdictions, according to a Thursday announcement.
At the core of the platform is DiSH Cash, a ledger-based representation of commercial bank deposits. Rather than relying on stablecoins, the system uses tokenized claims on actual bank deposits, providing what LSEG describes as a “real cash leg” for foreign exchange, securities and digital asset transactions.
“With LSEG DiSH, market participants will be able to conduct PvP [payment-versus-payment] or DvP [delivery-versus-payment] and settlements using any asset, orchestrating payments on any connected network, digital and traditional,” the LSEG said.
LSEG said the platform is designed to fix long-standing problems in post-trade settlement, where cash and assets are often locked up for hours or even days because of slow processes and disconnected systems.
“The service also enables users to reduce settlement risk through reduced settlement timelines, synchronised settlement, and increased collateral availability,” the global financial markets infrastructure and data provider said.
Senate Banking cancels Thursday crypto bill markup
The US Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday cancelled its markup of a crypto market structure bill slated for Thursday, with its Chairman Tim Scott saying bipartisan negotiations need to continue to garner support.
“I’ve spoken with leaders across the crypto industry, the financial sector, and my Democratic and Republican colleagues, and everyone remains at the table working in good faith,” said Scott. “This bill reflects months of serious bipartisan negotiations and real input from innovators, investors, and law enforcement.”
Scott did not disclose when, or if, the markup would be rescheduled. The delay comes after the Senate Agriculture Committee on Monday punted its markup of the crypto bill, also originally slated for Thursday, to Jan. 27, citing the need to garner more support.
The bill would define how the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would police the crypto market, and both the Banking and Agriculture Committees need to advance the bill as they respectively oversee the SEC and CFTC.
Several major crypto firms and lobby groups, including Coin Center, a16z, The Digital Chamber, Kraken and Ripple, have backed the Senate’s bill, but major lobbyist Coinbase dropped its support with CEO Brian Armstrong saying it “would be materially worse than the current status quo.”
