Coinbase Global reports earnings after the bell, but the main event for the stock's investors on Thursday is taking place in the halls of Capitol Hill.

Years of the company pushing for a bill to regulate the crypto industry are reaching a head, and its failure could pressure the stock no matter what Thursday's earnings results show.

Coinbase executives are in the thick of trying to get the Senate to hold a vote on the so-called Clarity Act, which among other industry-friendly moves would put most crypto trading outside the purview of securities regulators.

For Coinbase, the bill's passage would ensure a future White House doesn't crack down on the industry, as happened during President Joe Biden's administration, and give consumers and financial firms more reason to embrace digital assets.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) has said he wants to move the Clarity Act forward before the Senate starts the August recess at the end of next week. To move the bill forward, it would need votes from at least 60 senators, and Democrats have withheld support to push for a provision that would crack down on President Donald Trump's own crypto-tied activities.

In the near-term, the fate of the bill could have more impact on Coinbase's stock price than the earnings themselves, though investors will be looking to see how much a lackluster crypto market has affected the firm's earnings.

For the second quarter, Coinbase is expected to post a loss of 44 cents per share compared with $5.14 profit for the second quarter of 2025, according to analysts tracked by FactSet. Revenues are expected to come in at $1.29 billion, compared with $1.5 billion in the same period last year.

Coinbase, like most digital assets firms, has been battered by a moribund crypto market. Spot trading volume on centralized exchanges fell 27.9% between the first and second quarters, according to Benchmark Equity Research. The price of Bitcoin has fallen about 5% since the end of March to about $64,000, and the crypto market as a whole is down about 50% from its peak last October.

Coinbase is down about 55% in the past 12 months and down about 27% this year.

Amid the trading downturn, Coinbase's subscription and services revenue, which includes revenue from stablecoin USDC, has been a bright spot. Analysts expect that revenue to come in at $599 million, up slightly from the first quarter but still down from $656 million in the second quarter of 2025.

Lately, some crypto executives have said the use of stablecoins such as USDC could grow rapidly if they end up being the preferred currency of artificial intelligence "agents."