Coinbase CEO Declares Crypto Industry ’Won’t Accept’ Senate Democrats’ DeFi Crackdown
Brian Armstrong draws line in the sand against proposed regulatory overreach.
The Regulatory Standoff
Coinbase's chief executive fired the latest salvo in Washington's war on decentralized finance, bluntly stating the industry would reject Senate Democrats' proposed clampdown. The declaration comes as lawmakers push for stricter oversight of DeFi protocols—a move Armstrong characterized as fundamentally misunderstanding blockchain technology's architecture.
Political Pressure Mounts
Senate Banking Committee Democrats argue their legislation would bring consumer protections to what they call the 'wild west' of digital finance. Yet industry leaders counter that applying traditional financial regulations to decentralized systems represents a square-peg-round-hole approach that could stifle innovation while failing to achieve stated goals.
Industry Pushback Intensifies
Multiple crypto executives have joined Armstrong's resistance, suggesting the proposed rules would effectively ban DeFi in the United States while pushing development overseas. The confrontation highlights the growing tension between regulatory ambitions and technological reality—another classic case of regulators trying to fit 21st-century innovation into 20th-century frameworks.
The battle lines are drawn, the rhetoric's heating up, and the only certainty is that someone's about to discover that you can't regulate what you don't understand—welcome to another episode of 'Washington Meets Wall Street,' now with more blockchain and the same old regulatory theater.
Why The Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin Prices Are Crashing
The Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin prices are down today, according to CoinMarketCap data. The flagship crypto has dropped to as low as $104,000 over the last 24 hours, wiping out its early October gains that led to a new all-time high (ATH) above $126,000. ethereum dropped to as low as $3,400, while Dogecoin broke below the psychological $0.2 level and fell to $0.11.
This massive crash in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and dogecoin followed Trump’s Truth Social post, in which he announced that the U.S. will impose a 100% tariff on China, over and above any tariffs they are currently paying, starting on November 1. He added that they will also impose Export Controls on any and all crucial software from China starting on November 1.
Notably, Trump had earlier in the day threatened to massively increase tariffs on China, while stating that the country was becoming hostile. This initial threat caused Bitcoin to sharply drop below $120,000 from a high of around $122,000. Meanwhile, the Ethereum and Dogecoin prices also faced sharp declines.
Bitcoin was trading around $116,000 when Trump announced a 100% tariff on China, which sent the crypto market into a spiral. BTC’s further decline also pushed Ethereum and Dogecoin to intraday lows of $3,400 and $0.11, respectively, extending their market losses. Meanwhile, these massive declines for the crypto assets contributed to the largest liquidation event in crypto’s history.
CoinGlass data shows that $20 billion has been wiped out from the crypto market in the last 24 hours, driven by crashes in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin prices. This liquidation event was larger than the COVID-19 crash and the FTX bankruptcy crash.
Exchanges May Have Contributed To The Crash
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes suggested that crypto exchanges may have contributed to the crash in the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin prices. In an X post, he stated that the word on the street is that big CEX’s auto liquidation of collateral ties to cross-margined positions is why many altcoins “got smoked on the MOVE down.” He congratulated those who bought the dip, stating that market participants are unlikely to see those levels again anytime soon on many high-quality altcoins.
Crypto analyst Kevin Capital opined that the drop in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin prices was caused by serious issues across top exchanges like Robinhood, Coinbase, and Binance. He added that what makes it even worse is that these exchanges didn’t let people buy the dip at the lowest point.
