US Stablecoin Fight
- U.S. banks are lobbying to slow proposed stablecoin rules while the White House signals support for legislation. - Galaxy Digital estimates the CLARITY Act has roughly a 50% chance of passing this year. - That regulatory tug-of-war is pressuring firms to design jurisdiction-aware payment controls and separable ledger/settlement systems. (crypto.news) (coingape.com)
Washington is trying to finish the rules for digital dollars, but banks and the White House are pulling in opposite directions over whether stablecoins can pay yield. (whitehouse.gov) A stablecoin is a crypto token meant to hold a fixed price, usually $1, and Congress already set basic guardrails last year. The GENIUS Act became law on July 18, 2025, requiring permitted issuers to hold one-to-one reserves in cash or similar liquid assets and disclose those reserves monthly. (congress.gov) (whitehouse.gov) The new fight is about yield, the return some issuers want to pass through to token holders, like interest on a bank account. In an April 2026 report, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said banning that yield would do “very little” to protect bank lending while cutting off consumer returns. (whitehouse.gov) Bank groups answered that the White House analysis understates the risk of deposits leaving traditional lenders. The American Bankers Association said the administration examined the wrong question and argued that yield-bearing stablecoins could weaken banks’ funding base. (bankingjournal.aba.com) (coindesk.com) That dispute has spilled into the broader CLARITY Act, the bill that would divide crypto oversight more clearly between regulators. Galaxy Digital said on April 20 that the bill’s odds of becoming law in 2026 are “roughly 50-50,” after a House vote in July 2025 and months of Senate talks. (galaxy.com) Galaxy said three issues are still unresolved in the Senate Banking Committee: stablecoin yield language, decentralized-finance provisions, and locking down all Republican votes on the panel. The firm also said the bill still needs a committee markup, a 60-vote Senate floor win, reconciliation with other versions, and the president’s signature. (galaxy.com) Timing is now part of the story. Galaxy said the Senate Banking Committee was expected to announce a markup hearing in late April, but also reported that Senator Thom Tillis had called for a delay into May, and warned that a slip past mid-May would sharply reduce the odds of enactment this year. (galaxy.com) (beincrypto.com) The policy split is also shaping how companies build products. Because the law already requires anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls, and because the yield rules are still contested, firms are being pushed toward systems that can switch features by jurisdiction and keep transaction ledgers separate from final settlement rails. (whitehouse.gov) (brookings.edu) The near-term question in Washington is no longer whether stablecoins will be regulated. It is whether Congress can finish the next layer of rules before the Senate calendar runs out. (galaxy.com)
