Coinbase & the Clarity Act
Signal82 min read·Just now--
Coinbase told the senate on march 25th they cannot support the Clarity Act.
here’s why you should care….
the Clarity Act would open stablecoin issuance to regulated competition.
banks, fintechs, anyone who qualifies.
sounds reasonable.
unless you’re the company extracting 56% of ALL USDC reserve revenue through a single contract.
filed as EX-10.1 in Circle’s S-1: coinbase gets 100% of interest income on USDC held on its platform.
50% of everything everywhere else. in 2024 alone, Circle paid coinbase $908M under this deal.
Circle’s own net income? $156M.
coinbase made nearly 6x what the actual issuer kept.
Q1 2025 distribution costs hit $461M. annualize that and you’re looking at $1.84B flowing to coinbase per year from one agreement.
then they paywalled USDC rewards.
Coinbase One subscribers get 3.5% APY. everyone else gets 0% as of october 2025. reserves still yield 4.3%. the spread on free users is pure margin.
even a16z’s Chris Dixon publicly split from coinbase on this.
when your biggest venture backer says you’re wrong about stablecoin regulation, that’s not a policy disagreement — that’s a signal.
CFO Alesia Haas sold ~$4M in $COIN in march 2026.
the collaboration agreement renews august 2026.
if the Clarity Act passes before renewal, coinbase loses its moat.
this isn’t about protecting consumers.
this is a $1.8B/year revenue line dressed up as a regulatory opinion.
follow the filings. they never lie.
