Market structure state of play: State of Crypto

Hopes are rising that the Clarity Act may soon see some forward motion.

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Key senators critical to advancing the crypto market structure legislation may soon be willing to move forward on the bill, individuals familiar tell CoinDesk.

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Crypto's Clarity hopes

Crypto negotiators' hopes are bubbling up over the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the Senate legislation that represents the top-priority policy hope for the sector. The key senators — those who'd dragged their feet over stablecoin yield — are reviewing what seems to be a final take from bankers on what their industry would consider acceptable, according to people familiar with the talks.

After weeks of an increasingly tense relationship between the crypto insiders and the bank representatives who were tasked with hashing out a compromise, this week saw it come to a head with new legislative language circulating from the bankers on the debate over stablecoin rewards. President Donald Trump made an aggressive argument on his Truth Social site that the banks were trying to use the Clarity Act to undermine the stablecoin law that already passed, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.

"The Genius Act was the U.S.A.’s first big step to make the United States the Crypto Capital of the World, and getting The Clarity Act done is the next step to finish the job and, most importantly, keep this big and powerful Industry in our Country," Trump had argued, after meeting with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. "The Banks should not be trying to undercut The Genius Act, or hold The Clarity Act hostage."

Summer Mersinger, the CEO of the Blockchain Association, said that the White House "weighing in on the negotiations, and encouraging the banks to negotiate in good faith, adds important momentum as talks continue."

For their part, the banks have maintained that the foundation of U.S. banking and lending depends on customers' deposits, and they say a crypto industry alternative to those accounts could derail banks. That argument landed heavily with Senators Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, and Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat, and the rest of the Senate Banking Committee has been waiting to see if they're ready to move forward with a markup of the bill. At this point, an emerging compromise that may allow a narrow range of stablecoin rewards seems to be similar to positions the lawmakers have favored previously.

In an interview with CNBC, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon seemed to signal at his sector's openness to the compromise that there's room for reward on stablecoin activities and transactions as long as stablecoins held in one place shouldn't be rewarded with yield that resembles interest on a savings account. He also said crypto firms that function like deposit-taking institutions should have to follow the same stringent regulators as banks.

President Trump's son, Eric, added his view on social media site X. He's an adviser at World Liberty Financial Inc., the crypto firm partially owned by the Trump family, which itself has a stablecoin business. Eric Trump called the bankers "anti-consumer and straight-up anti-American."

"Let me make this very clear: Big Banks (think JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc.) are lobbying overtime to block Americans from getting higher yields on their savings—while trying to block any rewards or perks from being given to customers," he wrote. 

As all of these comments are flying, crypto representatives are quietly hopeful that Clarity Act will get rolling against next week.

"Senator Tillis has been very receptive to our discussions about stablecoin yield," Cody Carbone, the CEO of the Digital Chamber, said in a statement to CoinDesk. "I am optimistic we will find a way to get to a 'yes' vote on the bill, and we appreciate his work to try to advance market structure rules of the road."

If the Senate Banking Committee can advance the bill through a markup hearing, the text will be meshed with a previous version that already passed the Senate Agriculture Committee in a party-line vote. The combined version, though, would need significant support from Democrats if it has a chance to clear a vote in the wider Senate.

The process still faces the ticking clock of the Senate, where floor time is at a premium, and the midterm congressional elections will disperse lawmakers starting this summer. The Senate calendar likely allows only a couple more months of leeway before the door begins to close on a 2026 Clarity Act.

This week

Thursday

• 14:00 UTC (10:00 a.m. ET) The Securities and Exchange Commission's Investor Advisory Committee will hold a meeting where it will, among other topics, discuss a recommendation on how the regulator should handle tokenized equity securities.

If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.

You can also join the group conversation on Telegram.

See ya’ll next week!

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