The U.S. Clarity Act edges closer to a Senate markup.
Recently, several senators and members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee have revealed that a deal may be reached on a key negotiating issue: stablecoin yields.
The Clarity Act appears to have a promising timeline for a full senate markup hearing at the end of April.
Over the last few weeks, both the Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate have been deliberating over the right way to approach the topic of stablecoin yields.
In July 2025, the U.S. Genius Act posed an intial ban on stablecoin interest passing for stablecoin issuers only.
However, momentum was broken in January due to a standoff between Coinbase and the banks.
Currently, stablecoin rewards are available on exchanges and are pre-arranged via third-party distribution agreements, not too dissimilar from other marketing incentives employed across commercial financial products such as credit cards, loyalty schemes, and cashback returns.
As Eleanor Terret reports, a White House research report on American individuals’ deposit flight from regional banks towards digital stablecoin accounts was asked for during one of the meetings for the public to view.
This is to provide greater transparency on whether deposit flight risk is an actual risk for local banking lending provisions, or whether it is being used as a negotiation tactic to stall progress.
The main hurdle has been a sufficient compromise between the banking side arguing for a stricter prohibition on stablecoin yield and rewards altogether, while the broader digital asset industry is working towards a more balanced outcome with some provisions.
Revising the Genius Act is something that is not seen as a realistic or optimal outcome if a deal is not reached in a few weeks’ time.
On a technical note, the question is should yields be permitted on a) idle stablecoin balances and b) should any form of rewards be passed onto users by third-parties through various user activity.
These could be any number of beneficial criteria to stablecoin holders, such as: no. of monthly wallet transctions, opting into “Earn” products, or spending balances via physical/virtual cards.
On Friday, Senators Thom Tillis (R) and Angela Alsobrooks (D) may have reached a to meet the demands of both sides, with the White House and industry representatives still to make a comment (per Politico).
If it is sufficient, members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a full markup hearing after the Easter break.
Importantly, there are other issues to be fully ironed out as this bill is meant to bring forward digital asset rules and regulations in the U.S. to install market parameters for DeFi and crypto projects.
