Coinbase Global Inc. saw its shares climb 8% in premarket trading on Thursday, riding a broad crypto market rebound and fresh political support for clearer digital asset regulations. The move came after President Donald Trump met with senior crypto executives at the White House, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act.
The rally also followed the U.S. Treasury Department's decision to expand buyback operations for longer-dated government securities, a move aimed at supporting market liquidity and easing rising borrowing costs. That policy shift helped lift risk assets across the board, with Bitcoin climbing above $70,000 for the first time since early June.
According to CoinGlass data, roughly $3.3 billion in leveraged cryptocurrency positions were liquidated over a 24-hour period, with short positions accounting for about $3 billion of that total. Bitcoin and Ethereum saw the heaviest activity, with $1.15 billion and $1.73 billion in positions liquidated, respectively. The forced unwinding of bearish bets accelerated price gains, as traders closing short positions were compelled to buy assets, fueling further upward momentum.
Ethereum rose nearly 20% over 24 hours to around $2,200, while XRP gained more than 15% and Solana added over 13%, according to CoinGecko. The scale of the liquidation event made it the largest of 2026 and the third-largest in the past year, the data showed.
Trump's meeting with crypto executives provided a key policy catalyst. The CLARITY Act aims to establish clearer definitions for digital assets, determining which tokens should be classified as securities versus commodities, and clarifying the regulatory roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. For companies like Coinbase, such legislation could reduce uncertainty over which rules apply to different digital assets.
"Now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act — fair version of the Clarity Act," Trump said at the event. The legislation remains stalled in the Senate with limited time on the congressional calendar. Armstrong has separately forecast a bipartisan vote on September 15, 2026, and suggested that passage could set the stage for another crypto rally in October.
Other industry executives attended the White House event, including Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi, and Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher. SEC Chair Paul Atkins, CFTC Chair Mike Selig, and White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt also participated.
Beyond the meeting, regulatory momentum is building. The SEC on Tuesday proposed rules that would exempt certain token offerings from securities regulations, potentially easing capital raising for crypto companies. The CFTC is also scheduled to discuss cryptocurrency regulation at an industry gathering on Thursday. These developments could be particularly significant for Coinbase, which has long argued that clearer rules would allow crypto businesses to operate with greater certainty in the U.S.
Coinbase's fortunes are closely tied to trading activity across the crypto market, so stronger prices and higher volumes can improve investor expectations for its revenue. However, the CLARITY Act has not yet passed Congress, meaning the regulatory catalyst remains dependent on lawmakers reaching an agreement. For now, investors are betting on a combination of stronger crypto prices, forced short covering, and the possibility of a more supportive regulatory framework.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
