Banks' survey says people don't want to rock the boat if stablecoin yield risks lending

The American Bankers Association, which lobbies against the crypto sector over the Clarity Act's stablecoin section, unveiled its new polling.

What to know:

• The American Bankers Association commissioned a poll to back up its opposition to stablecoin yield, which the group says is reinforced by survey respondents who agree that it shouldn't be allowed if it could threaten U.S. lending and community banking.
• The survey also indicates that a significant 30% of U.S. adults said they're likely to buy or use digital assets in the next year.
• Bankers are still lobbying for changes in the latest version of the crypto Clarity Act, though only a handful of weeks remain in the Senate's calendar to get the market structure bill through to President Donald Trump's desk.

U.S. banking lobbyists unveiled a survey to back up their campaign against U.S. stablecoins that return yield to their users, seeking to reinforce their ongoing contention with results indicating 57% of people think Congress should stop crypto firms from offering anything that resembles bank interest on stablecoins if it could harm community lending.

The American Bankers Association, which commissioned the survey, is among the banking groups seeking 11th-hour changes to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that would establish a U.S. regulatory regime for the crypto industry. The banks are specifically pushing to rewrite the sections involving stablecoins, which their representatives have repeatedly argued to lawmakers and the White House would threaten the interest-bearing deposit accounts at the core of their businesses by drawing off customers.

As the Clarity Act stands, crypto platforms would not be allowed to offer yield for static holdings of stablecoins, but they could set up rewards programs akin to credit-card programs for the active use of the tokens.

“As lawmakers consider creating a regulatory framework for stablecoin and other digital assets, they need to know that Americans don’t want them to put in place rules that undermine lending and economic growth,” ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols said in a statement.

CoinDesk viewed the results of the online survey conducted by Morning Consult, which polled 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error around 2%. The survey's questions were worded with assumptions that stablecoins are likely to pose risks to banking and lending — a narrative opposed by research from the crypto sector and countered by White House economists.

A separate poll of U.S. voters recently commissioned by CoinDesk, revealed that they trusted banks more than crypto when it came to financial inclusion (65% to 5%). About 52% said in that poll that they thought digital assets were more than a passing fad.

Despite its intent to support the crypto sector's adversary in this legislative effort, the ABA's new polling indicated a relatively high interest from respondents in digital assets, which had been a niche arena until recent years. Some 30% of those polled said they're likely to buy or use digital assets in the next year, and 24% said stablecoins and crypto could provide "meaningful benefits" to them.

The survey pool included 17% who said they currently own digital assets, which was 10% less than CoinDesk's survey of registered voters.

When the pollsters asked if people thought the approach to crypto rules should be cautious and not threaten the traditional financial system (especially mentioning community banks), 61% agreed. A contrarian 15% seemed to suggest that the safety of the rest of the financial system wasn't a concern when pursuing digital assets regulation.

Senators who are working on the Clarity Act have already heard months of arguments from the banks and recently moved forward in the Senate Banking Committee with a compromise crafted by members from both parties. That legislative language, however, must still be merged with a similar bill that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee, and more changes will come after that merger if the bill progresses toward the Senate floor for a potential vote.

For its part, the crypto industry is pushing hard for final passage of the Clarity Act, countering other concerns that the legislation may leave openings for the abuse of crypto as a tool of criminality and illicit finance. The Blockchain Association has shared a letter signed by 160 former members of the law enforcement, national security and intelligence communities who favor the establishment of "a modern federal framework in the United States for digital asset oversight."

The association intends to visit Senate offices with some of those people on Wednesday, as the Senate session finishes its final weeks before its summer recess and the height of the midterm elections season.

Read More: ‘The banks will not accept it’: Dimon escalates battle over stablecoin rewards in CLARITY Act debate

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