Coinbase Policy Chief: New Democrats Are Open to Crypto Talks

Coinbase's top U.S. policy voice says the Democrats heading to Washington aren't slamming the door on crypto. Kara Calvert, the company's Vice President for U.S. Policy, told the outlet that the incoming freshman class is willing to dig into the issue. She pointed to a new crop of lawmakers who are, in her words, open and looking at it.

That openness matters because the Clarity Act is stuck. Democratic senators blocked the bill during the current session, and the dispute isn't really about the technology. Senate Democrats want the legislation to bar President Donald Trump, his family members and administration officials from making money through crypto ventures, and they've made that ethics provision a condition for letting the bill move.

The bill itself would split crypto oversight between two agencies: the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That division has been a long-running fight in Washington, with the industry pushing for clearer lines and regulators guarding their turf. For now, the bill sits parked.

The politics shifted on Tuesday. Democrats won control of both the House and Senate in the midterm elections, which reshapes who holds the gavels when the next Congress gets to work. Calvert's comments arrived against that backdrop — a stalled bill, a fresh class, and a policy fight waiting to restart.

One name to watch: Sen. Elizabeth Warren appears poised to chair the Senate Banking Committee. She has been a sharp critic of crypto, and her holding the gavel would put a powerful skeptic in charge of the chamber where the Clarity Act died. The ethics restriction Democrats are demanding would land squarely in that committee's lane.

So the next round of crypto policymaking will run through a Senate leadership that just blocked the industry's preferred bill, even as Calvert bets on newer Democrats being more curious than combative. Whether that curiosity becomes a deal — or another standoff over Trump's crypto ties — is the question the incoming Congress inherits.