Before Trump criticized the banks, Coinbase CEO had just secretly met with him.

Author: CoinDesk

Translation: Deep潮 TechFlow

Deep潮 Introduction: CoinDesk exclusively confirms a key timeline: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong first privately met with Trump, followed by Trump publicly criticizing banks for blocking crypto legislation on Truth Social.

This clue directly reveals the lobbying path behind Trump’s statements and makes the legislative battle between the crypto industry and banks clearer.

Full text below:

Key Points:

Before publicly accusing banks of undermining the pro-crypto GENIUS Act and calling for the passage of the CLARITY Act, Trump had a private meeting with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

The meeting was first reported by Politico and took place before Trump posted on Truth Social that banks “need to reach a good deal with the crypto industry,” to push stalled digital asset legislation on Capitol Hill.

This crypto market structure bill has stalled because banks warn that interest-bearing stablecoins could erode deposits and lending capacity, while crypto companies argue that the GENIUS Act’s allowance for consumers to earn rewards from stablecoin holdings is reasonable.

CoinDesk confirms that U.S. President Donald Trump had a closed-door meeting with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, shortly after which Trump posted on Truth Social claiming that banks are trying to sabotage the GENIUS Act.

“America needs to pass market structure legislation as soon as possible. Americans should earn more from their money,” Trump wrote in the post on Tuesday. “Big banks are making historic profits, and we won’t allow them to undermine our strong crypto agenda—if we don’t push the CLARITY Act, all this will flow to China and other countries.”

Politico first reported on the meeting between Armstrong and Trump. Subsequently, Trump publicly supported Coinbase’s stance in “ongoing lobbying battles with banks,” which have caused a key crypto bill to stall.

The outlet cited two anonymous sources familiar with the matter, stating they discussed the closed-door event off the record. The report also noted that it is unclear what exactly was discussed during the meeting.

However, the report reiterated that “the meeting took place shortly before Trump posted on social media that banks ‘need to reach a good deal with the crypto industry,’” which is a critical point in pushing stalled digital asset legislation on Capitol Hill.

Neither the White House nor Coinbase responded to CoinDesk’s request for comment.

This market structure bill has been pending since the Senate Banking Committee was scheduled to debate and vote on it. The core disagreement blocking the bill is that banks believe interest rates on stablecoins could affect bank deposits and thus their lending capacity; crypto exchanges argue that users should have the right to earn rewards from stablecoin holdings, and the GENIUS Act explicitly permits this.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday that stablecoin issuers paying interest on customer deposits should be regulated like banks. Patrick Wirt, executive director of the President’s Digital Asset Advisory Committee, countered, stating that “what truly needs bank-like regulation is not the act of paying yields on balances itself, but the act of lending or rehypothecating the underlying dollars that constitute the balances.” Wirt also said that the GENIUS Act “explicitly prohibits stablecoin issuers from engaging in the latter. Stablecoins ≠ deposits.”

Crypto-related stocks surged significantly on Wednesday along with the broader crypto market rebound, with COIN surpassing $200, reaching the highest price since late January.