The CLARITY Act is stuck over stablecoin yields and regulatory turf. Ex-CFTC chair Giancarlo warns banks are big losers; without April passage, SEC and CFTC may go solo.
US banking groups want lawmakers to tighten stablecoin reward language in the CLARITY Act, arguing current exceptions could let issuers offer products that resemble bank deposits.
The OCC has approved or upgraded federal trust bank charters for Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos, bringing key crypto infrastructure closer to the US banking system.
SoFi has rolled out a Solana-based enterprise banking platform that lets companies hold deposits, move funds, and settle in fiat or crypto around the clock within a federally regulated bank structure. Mastercard, Galaxy, Wintermute and seven others joined at launch.
Standard Chartered warns stablecoin adoption could drain $500 billion in US bank deposits by 2028, with regional banks most exposed. Regulatory delays may paradoxically accelerate usage.
The CLARITY Act faces a tougher Senate markup after more than 100 amendments were filed. Elizabeth Warren submitted over 40 alone, while Jack Reed and Tina Smith targeted stablecoin yield rules as banking groups sent over 8,000 letters to Senate offices.
Ripple assembled a full banking stack through ~$4B acquisitions in 2025 and secured an OCC national trust bank charter. Spot XRP ETFs now hold over $1B. SEC faces a Feb 26 deadline on T. Rowe Price's active crypto ETF listing XRP.
Banks are pressing lawmakers to remove stablecoin yield provisions from the CLARITY Act, while legal uncertainty keeps major US lenders from committing to digital payment infrastructure.
