Coinbase and Elizabeth Warren Are Fighting Over the CLARITY Act’s Most Dangerous Question

By Isaac • July 12, 2026 2:40 pm •

Coinbase and Senator Elizabeth Warren are making opposite national-security arguments about the same crypto bill.

Coinbase says the CLARITY Act would pull illicit finance out of the shadows by giving regulators clear jurisdiction and forcing major intermediaries into a federal compliance system. Warren says the bill could give sanctions evaders a protected route through decentralized finance.

Both claims sound sweeping. The actual bill text makes the fight narrower, harder and much more important.

Bitcoin.com reported that Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad pushed back after Warren called the current proposal a potential “ticket to sanctions evasion.” Shirzad argued that regulatory uncertainty is already a national-security weakness because bad actors benefit when no agency has a clean