Trump Says He Hopes to Sign Crypto Market Structure Bill 'Very Soon'

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he hopes to sign crypto’s coveted market structure bill “very soon,” likely adding pressure to a legislative effort that nearly went off the rails last week.

“Now Congress is working very hard on crypto market structure legislation, which I hope to sign very soon, unlocking new pathways to reach financial freedom,” Trump said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, reading from prepared remarks. 

“Bitcoin, all of them,” the president added, looking briefly away from the teleprompter.

The show of support came just hours after one of the White House’s top crypto officials appeared to publicly criticize Coinbase for potentially jeopardizing the bill’s chances of passage.

Last week, just before the powerful Senate Banking Committee was set to vote on the market structure bill, Coinbase abruptly withdrew its support for the legislation, forcing the Senate to pull the vote in a move that disgruntled numerous crucial players, including top lawmakers and other powerful crypto leaders.

The move was likely triggered by Coinbase’s concerns about a battle with the banking lobby over key language in the legislation. One new section of the bill could limit the crypto exchange’s ability to offer customers yield on holdings of stablecoins—crypto tokens pegged to the value of the dollar. Such reward programs have become increasingly central to Coinbase’s business model.

“We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said last week, announcing his company’s pull of support for the bill.

Last night, Patrick Witt, the executive director of President Trump’s digital assets council, appeared to publicly skewer Armstrong for making such a statement. 

“‘No bill is better than a bad bill,’” Witt said, paraphrasing the Coinbase CEO. “What a privilege it is to be able to say those words thanks to President Trump’s victory, and the pro-crypto administration he has assembled.”

The White House official went on to argue that if crypto industry players obstruct the passage of the bill now, such a move would constitute “fumbl[ing] the ball” and could lead to disastrous consequences.

Armstrong, who is also currently in Davos, acknowledged during a Tuesday Bloomberg interview that “there was a little bit of a blow-up last week” over the bill. 

During the interview, Armstrong seemed to reiterate that Coinbase’s red lines on the bill’s language remain unchanged.

“The bank lobbying groups and bank associations are out there trying to ban their competition, and I have zero tolerance for that,” he said. “I think it’s un-American.”