Three of the United States’ largest crypto exchanges—Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini—are pushing lawmakers to make a significant change to the anticipated CLARITY Act, the long-awaited framework for the crypto market that has been delayed for months in Congress.
According to a Friday report by POLITICO, the companies have urged lawmakers to scrap one key provision that would require exchanges to list only digital assets that are “not readily susceptible to manipulation.”
Small Crypto Assets Could Face Harder Listing RulesThe provision they want removed is intended to mirror existing commodity-market safeguards, but the exchanges argue it could be difficult to apply fairly to crypto—especially to smaller tokens that trade less frequently.
The exchanges’ objections center on a practical problem: the “readily susceptible to manipulation” standard could make it harder for exchanges to provide the certifications needed to offer smaller, lower-liquidity tokens.
Support For CFTC Power Comes With ConditionsIn a joint statement provided to POLITICO, Coinbase and Kraken and Gemini said they support comprehensive oversight for digital asset markets, including giving the CFTC expanded authority.
Coinbase Federal Policy Director Robin Cook described the debate as a “chicken-and-egg problem.” The issue, she said, is how a token can generate enough trading volume and interest to demonstrate it is not a manipulation risk if the token can’t be listed in the first place.
Cook said the company supports the “readily susceptible to manipulation” standard in traditional futures and swaps markets, but argued that importing that same standard into spot crypto could unintentionally limit what the CFTC, the industry, and consumers can do.
Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
