White House officials met on Monday with leaders from the crypto industry and major banking trade groups in an effort to ease a key regulatory dispute that has slowed progress on the long‑anticipated crypto market structure legislation, known as the CLARITY Act.
The meeting focused on one of the most contentious issues holding up the bill: whether stablecoin issuers and related third parties should be allowed to offer yield or rewards on stablecoin holdings.
Stablecoin Rewards DebateThe discussion comes against the backdrop of intense lobbying from the banking sector. Banks have been pushing lawmakers to insert language into the CLARITY Act that would prohibit not only issuers, but also third parties, from providing rewards tied to stablecoins.
The cryptocurrency industry, however, argues that such restrictions would tilt the playing field in favor of traditional financial institutions, which they say are increasingly concerned about competition from digital asset firms.
The meeting brought together a broad range of stakeholders. Representatives from major banking organizations, including the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, Financial Services Forum, Consumer Bankers Association, and the Independent Community Bankers of America.
Attendees also included Fidelity, PayPal, Paradigm, SoFi, Coinbase, Paxos, Crypto.com, Kraken, Ripple, and Tether, as well as advocacy groups like the Blockchain Association, Digital Chamber, and Crypto Council. Additional participants included Stripe, Galaxy Digital, Multicoin, Circle, and Cantor.
Crypto And Banking Leaders Signal ProgressCarbone said the meeting represented “exactly the kind of progress needed to find a resolution to one of the biggest issues blocking next steps in market structure legislative progress.”
Witt noted that policymakers and industry leaders have made progress in recent months on several policy challenges once thought to be unsolvable, and expressed confidence that the stablecoin rewards issue could also be resolved through continued dialogue.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
