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BREAKING: Coinbase Withdraws Support for Crypto Bill on Eve of Key Senate Vote

Coinbase just torpedoed the crypto industry's biggest legislative push…

Hours before a key Senate Banking Committee vote Thursday, CEO Brian Armstrong announced Coinbase was pulling support for the CLARITY Act.

The markup was postponed within hours. No new date set.

What went wrong

Armstrong cited four dealbreakers:

The banking lobby had pushed to ban yield on stablecoins, worried that stablecoin rewards would make traditional bank accounts less attractive.

The Monday draft allowed rewards from transactions, remittances, and loyalty programs - but banned direct yield.

Coinbase initially signalled it could live with that language.

Then came 137 proposed amendments. Several aimed to make stablecoin rules even more restrictive. Some were bipartisan, backed by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD).

Armstrong also flagged a new section on illicit finance that appeared for the first time in Monday's 270-page text.

Armstrong called the potential outcome "catastrophic for the average American consumer."

The banking fight

Armstrong framed this as banks trying to kill competition.

He noted traditional savings accounts pay roughly 14 basis points while stablecoin rewards can reach 3.8%.

Industry split

The move divided crypto.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse backed the bill. "I remain optimistic that issues can be resolved through the mark-up process."

Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi urged moving forward. "Walking away now would lock in uncertainty and leave American companies operating under ambiguity while the rest of the world moves forward."

The Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone was blunt: "Inaction is unacceptable. We cannot afford to walk away from the table at a moment when clarity is within reach."

What happens next

Senate Democrats are holding a call with industry reps Friday to restart negotiations.

Armstrong said he expects a new draft "in a few weeks." Senator Cynthia Lummis posted that lawmakers are "closer than ever."

But TD Cowen was pessimistic…

The objections Armstrong raised "include changes that Democrats secured in advance of the vote," analyst Jaret Seiberg wrote. Fixing those while maintaining the 60-vote bipartisan support needed to pass the Senate won't be easy.

Democrats face little pressure to rush. They expect to retake the House in 2026, giving them more leverage in 2027.

The Senate Agriculture Committee still plans markup January 27. But without Banking Committee alignment, passage becomes significantly harder.

Armstrong said he'd rather see no bill than accept one that could have eliminated three or four Coinbase product lines. 🚀

Consider this your wake-up call.

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Cathie Wood just dropped the most politically charged Bitcoin prediction we’ve heard this year.

She predicts in 2026, the Trump administration will follow through in buying 1 million Bitcoin.

Here’s what she said verbatim, in ARK Invest’s official 2026 outlook:

Then she got specific:

And her conclusion:

That is a veteran macro investor talking about political incentives.

As we’ve been pointing out, Midterm elections are everything. Cathie is right - the sitting President does not want to be a lame duck.

They want momentum, headlines, and a growing economy going into that vote.

And in Cathie’s view, crypto is one of the levers.

If the U.S. government moves from passively holding confiscated Bitcoin to actively buying for a Strategic Reserve, that is not a normal bid.

That is a sovereign bid.

It reframes Bitcoin from a speculative asset into a piece of national financial infrastructure.

Cathie is mapping power, incentives, and timing.

And according to her, Bitcoin sits right in the middle of that. 👀

Today we’ll be taking a look at the amount of Bitcoin available for sale on exchanges.

Here’s how to interpret this metric:

Just 2.75 million BTC now sit on exchanges - 13.76% of the total supply.

Since January, around 3,480 BTC have been withdrawn - roughly $317 million moved into cold storage, treasuries, and long-term wallets.

Sure, some weak hands are breaking. Short-term holders are capitulating. Fear's running its course.

But step back. The trend hasn't reversed.

Available supply keeps draining. Committed holders keep accumulating. 🧱

Chainlink, Cardano and Stellar Futures Begin Trading on CME Next Month. CME Group plans to launch Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar futures on February 9, expanding its regulated crypto derivatives lineup.

BTC Whales Turn Net Positive After Fastest Selloff In Years Ends. Bitcoin whales are rebuying BTC, while steady inflows to the spot ETFs combine to put wind in BTC’s sails.

Goldman Sachs sees crypto, tokenization and prediction markets as growth areas. The firm is exploring how these technologies can fit into its business and has met with prediction market platforms.

Kaito token plummets after X revises API policies to ban InfoFi crypto projects. InfoFi has led to a "tremendous amount of AI slop & reply spam" on the X platform, the firm's product lead said.

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