[Digital Today reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has actively defended the decision to withdraw support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, known as the Clarity Act.

The Clarity Act had been heading toward an important vote in the Senate Banking Committee, but the legislative timetable has become uncertain after Coinbase withdrew its support.

Armstrong’s decision has intensified the dispute after the White House strongly criticised it as a “rug pull against the government and the entire cryptocurrency industry,” Eleanor Terrett, host of Crypto in America, reported, according to The Block.

In the cryptocurrency market, a rug pull refers to developers raising investment money and then abandoning a project or siphoning off funds.

A source said the White House mentioned that “the bill itself could be wiped out” if Coinbase does not return to a bank revenue agreement. The White House did not comment directly on this.

At the centre of the controversy is regulation of stablecoin interest, or yield. Banks argued that providing stablecoin holders with interest-like returns could erode traditional savings deposits and negatively affect financial stability, and inserted a clause in the draft bill to limit interest payments. The draft bans interest for simple holding but is designed to allow activity-based rewards such as trading, staking and providing liquidity.

From Coinbase’s perspective, such provisions could mean a major revenue source disappears, The Block reported.

S&P Global projected that Coinbase’s stablecoin-related revenue in 2025 will exceed $1 billion. A large share comes from distribution payments through its partnership with Circle’s USDC.

Armstrong, speaking on Fox Business, called it “an attempt by banks to suppress competitors through lobbying and regulation.” He said competition should take place on fair and equal terms, adding that it is unfair for an industry, such as banking, to block competition through regulation.

The Banking Committee vote was postponed after Armstrong’s decision to withdraw support, and the bill’s future is now unclear. Armstrong and David Sacks, who leads crypto policy within the White House, urged the industry to use the delay to “resolve the remaining differences.”