© Reuters. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, looks on during the Piper Sandler Global Exchange and FinTech Conference in New York City, U.S., June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
(Reuters) – Coinbase (NASDAQ:) Chief Executive Brian Armstrong will meet with a group of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives in a private setting on Wednesday morning, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
Armstrong will speak behind closed doors with lawmakers from the New Democrat Coalition, a group of centrist House Democrats about digital-asset legislation and related issues including tax, national security, privacy and climate, the report added citing Democratic aides familiar with the plans.
Coinbase and the New Democrat Coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours.
The Coinbase executive is an outspoken SEC critic who has led a push in Washington for clearer crypto rules. Armstrong previously had hit back at Gary Gensler, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, and called him an “outlier” among Washington policymakers.
The crypto industry has attacked Gensler in recent days after the SEC sued two of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, Coinbase and Binance, for allegedly breaking securities laws by failing to register their operations with the agency.
If successful, the lawsuits could transform the crypto market by successfully asserting the SEC’s jurisdiction over the industry which for years has argued that tokens do not constitute securities and should not be regulated by the SEC.
Both Coinbase and Binance deny the SEC’s allegations and have pledged to vigorously defend themselves in court.
