President Donald Trump said Wednesday he hopes to sign crypto’s coveted market structure bill “very soon,” likely adding pressure to a legislative effort that nearly went off the rails last week.
“Now Congress is working very hard on crypto market structure legislation, which I hope to sign very soon, unlocking new pathways to reach financial freedom,” Trump said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, reading from prepared remarks.
The show of support came just hours after one of the White House’s top crypto officials appeared to publicly criticize Coinbase for potentially jeopardizing the bill’s chances of passage.
“We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said last week, announcing his company’s pull of support for the bill.
“‘No bill is better than a bad bill,’” Witt said, paraphrasing the Coinbase CEO. “What a privilege it is to be able to say those words thanks to President Trump’s victory, and the pro-crypto administration he has assembled.”
The White House official went on to argue that if crypto industry players obstruct the passage of the bill now, such a move would constitute “fumbl[ing] the ball” and could lead to disastrous consequences.
During the interview, Armstrong seemed to reiterate that Coinbase’s red lines on the bill’s language remain unchanged.
“The bank lobbying groups and bank associations are out there trying to ban their competition, and I have zero tolerance for that,” he said. “I think it’s un-American.”
