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Coinbase Lobbying Hit $1.07M in Q1 on Crypto Laws

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French Hill says CLARITY Act could fix gaps left by GENIUS Act

Coinbase lobbying activity for Q1 2026 totaled $1.07 million, the company disclosed in a new Lobbying Disclosure Act filing, targeting the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the GENIUS Act stablecoin law, and digital asset tax treatment legislation.

Summary

  • The filing covers lobbying on the CLARITY Act’s market structure provisions, implementation of the GENIUS Act stablecoin law, and general crypto policy discussions across multiple congressional committees.
  • The Q1 spend comes after a turbulent period in Coinbase’s relationship with the CLARITY Act, which began with CEO Brian Armstrong withdrawing support hours before a January markup, followed by a reversal after a Treasury-brokered compromise on stablecoin yield.
  • Coinbase derives roughly one-fifth of its total revenue from stablecoin-related activity, making the terms of the CLARITY Act’s yield provisions a direct financial stake rather than a policy preference.

Coinbase lobbying in the first quarter of 2026 reached $1.07 million as the company pressed Congress on the two pieces of legislation most directly affecting its business model. The LDA filing lists multiple specific topics covered, including general discussions on digital asset tax treatment, market structure provisions of the CLARITY Act, and all provisions of the GENIUS Act stablecoin law signed into law as P.L. 119-27.

The filing provides a concrete dollar figure for Coinbase’s Washington engagement during one of the most consequential quarters in US crypto legislative history. The GENIUS Act passed and became law. The CLARITY Act stalled and restarted. Coinbase first killed and then revived its support for the market structure bill within the span of three months.

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The company’s relationship with the CLARITY Act in Q1 2026 was the most consequential lobbying story in crypto. Armstrong posted opposition to the bill on X on January 14, hours before the Senate Banking Committee’s scheduled markup, causing the session to be postponed. The central objection was the bill’s treatment of stablecoin yield, which banking industry lobbyists had pushed to restrict.

What the Filing Covers and Why It Matters

The LDA disclosure lists the following subjects: general discussions on digital asset tax and digital asset tax treatment, provisions related to Title I and market structure of the CLARITY Act, all provisions of the GENIUS Act, general discussions on crypto policy and market structure, and discussions on implementing the GENIUS Act. That list covers the full legislative agenda facing the crypto industry in 2026.

The CLARITY Act remains the primary pending legislation. Its market structure provisions would formally define the regulatory division of authority between the SEC and CFTC over digital assets. For Coinbase, which operates the largest US crypto exchange and custody platform, those definitions affect every product it offers. The company’s subsequent reversal on the bill came after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent published a Wall Street Journal op-ed advocating for a compromise framework on the stablecoin yield question that left room for activity-based rewards while restricting direct interest payments.

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The Scale of Coinbase’s Financial Stake

Coinbase reported $355 million in stablecoin-related revenue in Q3 2025. The company derives approximately one-fifth of its total revenue from stablecoin activity, primarily through interest earned on USDC reserves and rewards paid to users. How the CLARITY Act defines permissible stablecoin yield programs determines whether that revenue stream survives in its current form or must be restructured.

The company’s Agentic Market launch on Monday, which routes AI agent transactions through USDC over the x402 protocol, adds a second dimension to its USDC stake. If stablecoin transaction volume from AI agents grows as Armstrong has predicted, the regulatory treatment of USDC’s underlying economics becomes even more valuable to protect. $1.07 million in Q1 lobbying is a modest investment against that exposure.

How the Q1 Spend Compares to the Legislative Outcome

Armstrong reversed his CLARITY Act opposition by March 2026, with Coinbase publicly stating it was “ready to do its part” to get the bill passed. The Q1 lobbying period therefore captures both the opposition and the reversal, along with continued engagement on implementation of the GENIUS Act that was already law. For a company with Coinbase’s revenue base, $1.07 million in quarterly lobbying is a standard operating cost for an industry participant with direct exposure to pending federal legislation. What distinguishes Coinbase’s Q1 from previous quarters is that the legislation being lobbied on was active, consequential, and moving during the period covered.

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Crypto World

Bitcoin price climbs to $77,500 on Trump ceasefire extension, Strategy’s $2.5 billion buy

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Bitcoin heads into holiday weekend exposed as ETF and CME flows go offline

Bitcoin is breaking out of the Iran-headline chop.

Bitcoin traded at $77,541 on Wednesday morning, up 2.2% over 24 hours and 4.3% on the week, after Trump said he would extend the Iran ceasefire indefinitely and Strategy disclosed the purchase of 34,164 BTC for $2.54 billion. Ether rose 2.1% to $2,366, BNB climbed 1.3% to $640, and Solana gained 1.8% to $87. The only red in the top 10 was a trickle of 0.1% declines in stablecoins and Tron.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.5% and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.6% after Trump’s extension, though the underlying benchmarks closed lower Tuesday as talks briefly wobbled. Brent crude hovered near $98 a barrel. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.7% as investors weighed how long the Middle East conflict runs.

Trump blamed negotiation collapses on what he called a “seriously fractured” leadership structure in Tehran, and said the US would hold off on fresh attacks while keeping its Strait of Hormuz blockade in place.

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Strategy’s buy is the largest bitcoin purchase by the company since November 2024. The 34,164 BTC acquisition at an average $74,395 per coin brings the firm’s holdings to 815,061 BTC, bought for $61.6 billion at an average cost basis of $75,527. With bitcoin at $77,541, the position is now modestly in profit for the first time in months.

Spot flows back the move. Global crypto funds pulled in $1.4 billion last week according to CoinShares, the strongest week of inflows since mid-January. Bitcoin took $1.12 billion, Ethereum $328 million, Chainlink $5 million, and Sui $2 million. XRP saw $56 million in outflows and Solana $2 million, despite both trading higher on price.

Two structural signals point the same direction. Bitcoin is now holding above the realized price of short-term holders at around $69,400 per analyst Darkfost, the level at which recent buyers are sitting on gains rather than losses, which historically reduces the odds of a cascade liquidation if sentiment reverses.

Separately, a Nomura survey found 65% of Japanese institutional investors now hold bitcoin for portfolio diversification, with 31% viewing the market outlook positively and most planning 2% to 5% allocations over the next three years.

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Whether bitcoin can hold $77,000 through the European session depends on how markets price the ceasefire extension against continued Strait of Hormuz disruption.

A clean break above $80,000 would confirm the 46-day funding rate compression is flipping into a short squeeze. A reversal below $75,000 would mean the extension already priced in and the rally needs a fresh catalyst.

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Tron founder Justin Sun Sues World Liberty Over Token Freeze

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Tron founder Justin Sun Sues World Liberty Over Token Freeze

Sun said the lawsuit is to protect his rights as a WLFI token holder and doesn’t change his support of US President Donald Trump and his administration’s efforts to make the US crypto-friendly.

Tron founder Justin Sun said he is suing Trump-family-backed World Liberty Financial for allegedly freezing his tokens and threatening to burn them “without any proper justification.” 

In a post to social media on Wednesday, Sun said the suit, filed in a California federal court, was meant to protect his rights as a token holder.

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“I have tried in good faith to resolve this situation with the World Liberty project team without resorting to litigation. But the project team has refused my requests to unfreeze my tokens and restore my rights as a token holder. They have left me with no choice but to turn to the courts,” he added.

Sun is the largest individual investor in World Liberty, a project tied closely to the Trump family.

Source: Justin Sun

Sun previously threatened legal action earlier this month over lengthy lockup periods for WLFI’s governance token and accused WLFI’s recent governance proposal of lacking transparency, saying more than 76% of the voting tokens came from 10 wallets.

Related: World Liberty burns 47M tokens in bid to pump price as slide continues

At the time, the WLFI project team said on X that the claims were “baseless allegations” and added, “We have the contracts. We have the evidence. We have the truth. See you in court pal.”

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Cointelegraph has contacted the Tron and World Liberty Financial teams for additional comment about the lawsuit. 

Meanwhile, Sun said on X that the lawsuit doesn’t change his views on President Donald Trump or his administration. 

“Unfortunately, certain individuals on the World Liberty project team have been operating the project in a manner that goes against President Trump’s values,” Sun said.

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi 

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