Banks stall US CLARITY Act stablecoin bill

TLDR

Banks are blocking a key compromise on stablecoin yields in the US CLARITY Act, which has effectively stalled the bill in the Senate.

1. The CLARITY Act, a major US crypto market structure bill, is stuck after banks rejected a White House compromise on stablecoin rewards, despite the bill passing the House in 2025.
2. At issue is whether dollar stablecoin issuers can pay 34 percent rewards, which banks warn could pull hundreds of billions from deposits and reshape US lending and payments.
3. Until there is a new deal or political shift, expect slower progress on federal clarity for stablecoins and token classifications, while state and foreign regimes move ahead.

Deep Dive

1. What Has Actually Stalled

The CLARITY Act is a comprehensive US digital asset market structure bill that would split oversight between the CFTC for "digital commodities" such as Bitcoin and the SEC for tokens that remain securities, giving projects clearer token classification rules.

Negotiations have stalled because banks rejected a White House proposal that tried to balance innovation with deposit stability by limiting when stablecoin holders could earn yield. According to a recent summary, the bill has effectively paused in the Senate after banks refused a compromise on stablecoin rewards that crypto firms had already accepted. The dispute has left the bill "stalled after banks rejected a White House compromise on stablecoin rewards" in the Banking Committee, despite earlier House passage.

2. Why Stablecoin Rewards Are So Controversial

Crypto firms want the ability to pay roughly 34 percent incentives on regulated dollar stablecoins to attract users and compete with bank accounts and cards in digital payments. Banks argue that even tightly limited rewards could "meaningfully weaken deposit bases," with internal estimates suggesting up to about 500 billion dollars could migrate from bank deposits into stablecoin wallets over time.

A White House proposal reportedly allowed rewards only for certain payment-related uses and banned yield on idle balances, but banks pushed for even stricter limits. That fight over yield design comes on top of broader CLARITY debates about tokenized equities and other products, leaving the overall package politically heavy.

3. What To Watch Next For Crypto Users

Time is a problem. Senate floor bandwidth is limited in an election cycle, and industry advocates warn that the window for CLARITY this year is closing as banks lobby for tougher terms. Some analysts now think full enactment may slip toward 2026 if talks do not break the impasse soon.

In parallel, the GENIUS Act, a separate federal stablecoin law, is already on the books, and states like Florida are moving ahead with their own payment stablecoin frameworks that explicitly restrict yield to align with that federal model. Abroad, jurisdictions such as Russia are racing to adopt dedicated stablecoin laws, creating a risk that US-based issuers and builders remain in a gray zone while competitors gain regulatory certainty.

Conclusion

Bank opposition to stablecoin rewards has turned the CLARITY Act from a near-term path to US crypto clarity into a slow, uncertain process. For crypto users and builders, the practical impact is delayed certainty on when tokens are commodities versus securities and on how far regulated stablecoin yields can go inside the US system. The next meaningful shift will likely come either from a revised stablecoin compromise that banks can live with, or from political and regulatory workarounds that move ahead without a full CLARITY package.