A bipartisan compromise on stablecoin yield is holding, clearing a key obstacle for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act as it heads toward a markup in the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said on CoinDesk TV Monday that the agreement appears durable. He described a resolution on yield as a must-have step before negotiators could turn to the bill’s remaining disputes.
The legislation had been delayed earlier this year after banking lobbyists argued that allowing stablecoins to offer interest-like returns could pull funds away from traditional bank deposits. That concern remains a live point of tension. While White House economists recently published a report that downplayed the risk, the American Bankers Association has continued to argue that the government’s assessment is flawed.
Banking sector remains split on stablecoin model
Witt said the banking industry is not reacting as a single bloc. In his view, some institutions see stablecoins more favorably, while others feel more directly threatened by them. That split helps explain why the yield question became such a central issue in the talks. It also shows why getting agreement there was necessary before any broader legislative progress could follow.
He struck an optimistic tone on the overall negotiations. Witt said issues that once looked intractable have started to close out, and that progress has increased his confidence that the unresolved items can also be addressed.
DeFi illicit finance rules and ethics limits still under discussion
Negotiators are still working through politically sensitive provisions outside the core banking debate. Those include illicit finance protections for DeFi and a Democratic push to bar senior government officials, including President Donald Trump, from personally profiting from the crypto industry.
Witt did not say which of those secondary matters have been fully settled. The bill’s next procedural step is a markup hearing in the Senate Banking Committee. Only after that stage can it be scheduled for a vote on the full Senate floor.