The U.S. CLARITY Act, a landmark bill to define stablecoin and broader crypto market structure, is at risk of being postponed from an expected April committee review to May as bank lobbying against stablecoin yield provisions intensifies on Capitol Hill.
According to the newsletter Crypto In America, the Senate Banking Committee has until Friday to decide whether to schedule the bill for markup during the week of April 27, but the calendar is already crowded by the confirmation hearing for Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh. Meanwhile, the North Carolina Bankers Association and other industry groups are urging members to call Senator Thom Tillis's office and demand changes to the CLARITY Act's proposed restrictions on yield-bearing stablecoins—reopening a compromise deal reached with crypto firms just weeks ago.
Banks clash with White House data
Banking trade bodies, including the American Bankers Association, have warned that allowing stablecoin rewards could drain up to $6.6 trillion in deposits from the banking system, arguing that yield-paying tokens would accelerate an exodus from traditional accounts.
But a recent report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers tells a different story. It concluded that banning stablecoin yields would boost bank lending by only $2.1 billion, or roughly 0.02% of a $12 trillion loan book, while imposing a net welfare cost of about $800 million on consumers. The CEA paper argued that a "yield prohibition would do very little to protect bank lending, while forgoing the consumer benefits of competitive returns on stablecoin holdings." This gave crypto and fintech advocates fresh ammunition against a blanket ban.
White House crypto adviser takes fight public
White House Crypto Council executive director Patrick Witt has taken that fight public, writing on X that banks are "further lobbying out of greed or ignorance" and urging lawmakers not to let the bill be "held hostage" by yield fears that the administration's own data plays down.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina and a key negotiator on the stablecoin language, has floated holding an in-person "crypto carnival" session with industry participants—a move he admits could extend the timeline but which he says is needed because "there are still issues to negotiate."
Beyond yield, the CLARITY Act still has to navigate contentious provisions around DeFi, conflicts of interest, and ethical rules for lawmakers trading tokens. Even if it clears the Senate Banking Committee in late April or May, it must still be reconciled with a House version before landing on President Trump's desk.
The fight over stablecoin yields is increasingly seen as a proxy for who captures trillions in future onchain savings flows, with banks, issuers, and DeFi platforms all jockeying for control of the same digital dollar stack.