Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is making the case for a new bipartisan cryptocurrency bill backed by President Trump, telling CBS News on Thursday that it will broaden consumer protections and prevent a repeat of the FTX fallout.

"The current status quo today is that there isn't much clarity about what the rules are. And so we are seeing a lot of ordinary Americans get harmed by using some of these products," Armstrong said in an interview with CBS News correspondent Kelly O'Grady. "So this bill creates lots of consumer protections."

The CLARITY Act, which is scheduled for a Senate vote in September, would create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, providing more oversight to an industry that has, up until now, been largely operating in a legal gray area. Under the bill, which the House passed last year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would jointly regulate digital assets.

Armstrong believes the new guardrails would benefit the financial services sector, make the U.S. more competitive and enhance protections for ordinary crypto users. FTX, a one-time darling of the crypto world, collapsed in 2022 after its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, misappropriated customer funds.

About one in five Americans has used crypto, according to Pew Research.

"It has strong tools for law enforcement to go after illicit activity," Armstrong said. "It also has the opportunity to create new products in crypto that would benefit Americans, including earning rewards on their stablecoin balances, the ability to go raise capital in crypto, capital formation or issuing securities."

Cryptocurrency prices rose on Thursday, with bitcoin and ethereum gaining 5.9% and 2.8%, respectively, in afternoon trading.

Conflicts of interest?

President Trump met with tech leaders, including Armstrong, at the White House on Wednesday, where he called on Congress to pass the CLARITY Act.

"It's a very, very powerful, structured legislation which will keep us ahead of China, keep us ahead of everyone else," he said, according to a transcript from Roll Call.

Mr. Trump is pushing for the bill at the same time his family is expanding its own cryptocurrency ventures. On Friday, a Trump-appointed regulator granted preliminary approval to to establish a bank charter. The trust company is affiliated with World Liberty Financial, which President Trump's sons founded in 2024 alongside the sons of Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration's special envoy to the Middle East.

Asked about potential conflicts of interest, Armstrong pointed to an ethics provision within the bill. "To my understanding, it's the first time that's actually happened in any piece of legislation," he told CBS News. "It's not typically a requirement of the executive branch to have that."

Others argue the ethics provisions don't go far enough. That includes Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

"Donald Trump raked in more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures, and this bill does nothing to prevent him from vacuuming up his next $1.4 billion in crypto profits," Sen. Warren said in a July statement.