00:00You heard Zach go over what was in the Senate Banking Committee's version of the crypto market structure bill. What is your reaction. Yeah well I think he nailed it. This is a 274 page bill. It is definitely the product of bipartisan negotiations. And one of those key issues is rewards and the ability to pay everyday Americans and make their money work for them. I think that that's the north star that Coinbase has always worked with is we want to protect our customers. We want to be able to
00:29let them earn rewards that puts their money in their pockets especially when affordability is eating into every single dollar. So this is really about everyday Americans and the ability to compete. I think that that is one thing that keeps getting lost is this isn't about community banks. It's not about lending. It is really about big banks and their strangleholds over the payment system. And so what we're trying to do is compete.
00:53Kara are there any parts of the bill as it stands right now that would harm the crypto industry as you see it. Well right now we are looking through 274 pages is a lot. There are a lot of details in there as Zach was walking through all the different provisions. They are certainly reflective of what we have seen in years past whether it was fit 21 a couple of congresses ago whether it was clarity. There are a lot of things that are reflected from previous versions.
01:19But there are a lot of details that are coming out for the very first time. So the industry whether it's exchanges and other intermediaries to new developers to issuers and originators who are thinking about how to raise money and how to launch their assets.
01:35Those are the types of things that the entire ecosystem really has to look at and evaluate. You had mentioned the rewards and how that's an important part of the bill for Coinbase and for others in the industry.
01:46How would the company your company be impacted if the rewards were to go away.
01:51Well I think that it certainly would impact our ability to compete and the ability of all the different players in the system because what the banks are asking for is not just a narrow version of this that just impacts exchanges.
02:04They are asking for a broad based prohibition on rewards and they're saying that it's because it will erode community banks.
02:10And what the committee has tried to do is determine how best to address that risk.
02:16And so as we look at that and as the rest of the industry looks at it we're trying to base it against that risk while also making sure that again everyday Americans can can engage in this ecosystem can access stable coins and can benefit from that.
02:29So just to make sure we understand this do you support the market structure bill as it stands right now at least as what you what you've seen released.
02:38Right now again with 274 pages to walk through I can't say one way or another if we are pro pro this bill or if we are still looking at it or if we're anti but I can tell you there's a lot of good in there.
02:51I think that the work has been done to make sure that there's a bipartisan agreement and that's what we need to do to get it to the next step in this process.
02:59This isn't over until it gets to the president's desk and I think that's what I am taking away from it.
03:04There are provisions that will 100 percent need to be changed.
03:06There are provisions that will need to stay the same because they have actually done a good job in many parts of this bill.
03:13So that's I think where we where we look at this is what's the next step and the market the market structure markup tomorrow in the Senate Bank is the next step.
03:20Certainly not all lawmakers are on board with this Kara and I'm wondering what your message to them would be especially if they are facing re-election this year.
03:28What what would you say to them if they're not supporting this.
03:32Well I think voters are watching.
03:34There are 2.6 million advocates as part of Stand With Crypto since just since Tuesday more than 225,000 emails have gone to Congress just about this rewards issue and just to the Senate.
03:46I want to be precise about that. 225,000 emails just to the United States Senate about the rewards issue.
03:52That's almost half a million since this started to come to the forefront back in October.
03:57That is a lot of everyday people coming to Senate and saying we care about this issue.
04:03Please don't gut our ability to make our money work for us.
04:07You know Kara I think big picture. I know for months Coinbase has been saying that you need this market structure bill to be passed in order to feel that the business can withstand whatever changes come from future presidential administrations.
04:22Do you still feel that way.
04:23Well there's nothing better than a bipartisan law passing that actually creates clear stable rules durable for not just two three four years but really the next decade.
04:35We are creating the foundation that I think will unlock innovation for for years and years to come.
04:41So we absolutely still believe that we need a bipartisan market structure bill done.
04:45And the clarity act was a great great start. It had 78 Democratic votes. It had nearly all Republicans. Two thirds of the United States House.
04:54That is a massive win. And so now as we look to the Senate we think that that can be replicated.
05:00We think that there is a way to make sure that we get a bipartisan win out of the United States Senate.
05:04But it's going to take work. This isn't over the Senate Ag Committee.
05:07The Agriculture Committee with jurisdiction over the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission.
05:12And that is what has jurisdiction over intermediaries like Coinbase.
05:17It's also what will determine how these different things are listed and the everyday public can access those.
05:22That still needs to be marked up. And that's coming hopefully the last week of January.
05:27Those once those two bills pass out of committee then they'll need to be put together and taken to the United States Senate for the floor debate.
05:35That process is is still in in swing.
05:38Kara it seemed like the president at least in the early part of last year was very focused on crypto and we heard a lot from him.
05:45But of late it seems like he's been much more focused on affordability.
05:50Indeed that's what's going to dominate his trip to Davos next week.
05:53He's talked about capping credit card rates at 10 percent.
05:56He's talked about stopping institutional investors from owning single family homes in the U.S.
06:01He's ratcheted up his attacks on the Fed.
06:04Are you worried that he's losing focus of the crypto industry?
06:08I'm not. I actually that the White House has been incredibly involved in this process and the leadership of of David Sachs has been absolutely critical to moving this ball forward.
06:19And that hasn't dissipated in the last few months.
06:22I think what I would say is that thread is actually exactly what we see right now on stable coin rewards.
06:28The threat of affordability. The threat of making sure that Americans have more money in their pockets.
06:33That is exactly why we are fighting for rewards.
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