This week, a major news broke: the scheduled Senate Banking Committee markup of the Market Structure Act was suddenly postponed.

At the center of this development is a key figure—Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. According to public information, he recently announced that he no longer supports the current draft version. It’s important to note that Coinbase has long been a core industry advocate for this legislation, and his change of stance has directly impacted the overall situation.

Why did Armstrong suddenly switch sides? His reason is that the draft contains "multiple serious issues." Specifically, he is concerned that the bill could substantially prohibit the development of tokenized stocks, impose overly strict restrictions on decentralized finance (DeFi), and encroach on the regulatory authority of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He even bluntly stated, "Rather than pushing through a poorly drafted bill, I’d prefer no bill at all," feeling that the current version is worse than the existing regulatory environment.

Armstrong’s reversal has exposed a soft spot in the legislative process. Without the support and lobbying power of industry leaders, the bill has lost its consensus foundation within the industry, leading to the meeting’s cancellation.

From a broader perspective, this reflects a core contradiction: regulators and industry giants hold vastly different views on key provisions, and within the industry itself, there is no unified understanding of "what good regulation" looks like. This crucial legislation, originally intended to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for the U.S. crypto market, is now stalled, with no new meeting date set.

Whether it will be significantly delayed or restarted with a thoroughly revised draft remains uncertain. This tug-of-war is far from over.