Armstrong posted his support on X, tagging Bessent directly: "We agree. Thank you @SecScottBessent for saying it. It's time to pass the Clarity Act." Armstrong had previously withdrawn or blocked support for the bill at least twice, in January and March 2026. His endorsement removes the most prominent private-sector obstacle to Senate advancement of the bill.

What the Bill Does

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633) is the most comprehensive crypto market structure legislation the U.S. has attempted. It draws a jurisdictional line between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission based on how a token functions. Tokens tied to a blockchain's operations, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, would fall under CFTC oversight as digital commodities. Tokens structured as investment contracts would stay with the SEC. The bill applies a "Mature Blockchain Test": any token where no single entity controls more than 20 percent of supply qualifies as a commodity. It also creates formal registration categories for exchanges, brokers, and custodians, and explicitly protects open-source software developers from liability as long as they do not control customer funds. Stablecoins remain under the separate GENIUS Act framework, with additional provisions governing how they interact with exchanges covered by the Clarity Act.

The House passed the bill in July 2025 with a bipartisan vote of 294 to 134. It has since sat idle in the Senate. The Senate Banking Committee is now targeting a markup hearing for late April 2026, following the Easter recess, with April 13 identified as a key date.

Why Armstrong Held Out

Armstrong's original objections, stated publicly in January 2026, centered on stablecoin yield restrictions, though he also cited concerns about a de facto ban on tokenized equities, DeFi prohibitions, and government access to financial data. Coinbase generated $1.35 billion in stablecoin-related revenue in 2025, roughly 20 percent of total company revenue. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, that figure reached $355 million. A blanket ban on stablecoin yield would have directly threatened that revenue stream, which is tied largely to USDC. USDC currently holds a market capitalization of $78.29 billion.

His stance put him at odds with the broader industry. Venture firm a16z crypto's Chris Dixon wrote in January that "now is the time to move the Clarity Act forward." White House crypto official Patrick Witt was more blunt: "You might not love every part of the Clarity Act, but I can guarantee you'll hate a future Dem version even more."

Three developments appear to have shifted Armstrong's position. First, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) reached a stablecoin yield compromise that bans passive returns on static holdings but allows activity-based rewards such as transaction rebates, payment incentives, and loyalty programs. Second, a White House Council of Economic Advisers report estimated that a full yield ban would cost consumers approximately $800 million per year while delivering minimal benefit to banks. Third, on April 2, 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted Coinbase conditional approval to charter the Coinbase National Trust Company, a significant regulatory win that may have softened the company's adversarial posture toward Washington.

Coinbase stock (COIN) was trading at approximately $171 on April 9, well below its July 2025 intraday high of $444.75.

The Clock Is Running

Bessent framed the bill as a national security matter in his push for passage. "Economic security equals national security," he said, warning in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that crypto developers had been relocating to Abu Dhabi and Singapore precisely because those jurisdictions offered clear registration rules and operating standards. At a February 2026 Senate hearing, he called out what he described as a "nihilist group in the industry who prefers no regulation over this very good regulation."

If the Senate does not act before roughly May 2026, midterm election dynamics are expected to kill its momentum.

What It Means Beyond U.S. Borders

The Clarity Act's implications extend well beyond American exchanges and investors. Sub-Saharan Africa received more than $205 billion in on-chain value between July 2024 and June 2025, a 52 percent year-over-year increase, according to Ripple Insights and Chainalysis data. African markets rely heavily on stablecoins for cross-border payments, remittances, and treasury management. The Tillis-Alsobrooks yield compromise, if it becomes law, will serve as a reference point for regulators in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Mauritius as they build their own stablecoin frameworks.

India presents a different kind of indirect exposure. The country has now deferred its crypto policy discussion paper at least five times, with the Reserve Bank of India maintaining firm resistance while SEBI and the Finance Ministry are more receptive to a framework. A comprehensive U.S. law could accelerate that internal debate by offering a working model. Indian blockchain developers, who represent one of the largest such talent pools globally, stand to benefit from the bill's explicit developer liability protections if they build for platforms operating under the new U.S. framework. The stakes are concrete for domestic Indian platforms as well: exchanges such as CoinDCX and WazirX face competitive pressure if global capital flows toward U.S.-regulated alternatives, and WazirX is still navigating legal proceedings stemming from its 2024 hack.

The Senate markup hearing expected later this month will determine whether years of legislative effort produce a law or another delay.