US President Donald Trump reportedly met with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong hours before issuing a statement criticizing banks for holding the bill “hostage” to the market structure.
According to a Tuesday Politico report, Trump met privately with Armstrong after a delegation of Coinbase representatives left for the White House. The details of the reported meeting were not clear, but the president later wrote on his Truth Social channel that “the US must complete the market structure as soon as possible.”
“The banks are making record profits and we are not going to let them destroy our powerful Crypto agenda (…),” Trump said in his Tuesday message.
The reported meeting comes more than a month after Armstrong said that Coinbase could not support the market structure bill “as written,” citing “a reform bill that would kill premiums on stablecoins and allow banks to block their competition.” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott later postponed a vote on the legislation, which is not scheduled until Wednesday.
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One of the differences between many crypto companies and banking associations on the market structure bill was how the legislation could handle stablecoin premiums. Armstrong and others in the industry oppose the bill’s ban on stablecoin mining, and the White House held three separate meetings with crypto and banking representatives after the bill was delayed.
Cointelegraph’s requests for comment to Coinbase, the White House and the American Banking Association have not been answered by the time of publication. Separately, Ji Hoon Kim, director of the advocacy organization Crypto Council for Innovation, responded to Trump’s message on Tuesday:
“America’s leadership in digital assets is a national priority and it remains important that the United States lead. CCI is focused on getting market structure legislation passed and enacted as soon as possible. We are ready to work on a path forward on constructive stablecoin rewards.”
Coinbase has a close relationship with the administration
Although the White House has its own crypto advisers, Armstrong has been seen more than once in the company of administration officials since Trump won the 2024 election. According to reports, Coinbase’s CEO has been invited to the January 2025 Opening Day event with other industry leaders. The exchange contributed to the America250 “nonpartisan initiative” behind the July 2025 military parade in Washington, DC.
Between negotiations in Congress on the market structure bill, Armstrong was a regular presence and sometimes gave interviews from the US Capitol. In February, the CEO, along with Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, discussed the legislation at a crypto forum at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago Club, sponsored by World Liberty Financial, a company backed by the president and his sons.
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