Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks have reached a significant bipartisan agreement regarding stablecoin rewards, which has removed a major barrier to advancing the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. This development paves the way for the Senate Banking Committee to consider the bill for markup in the near future.
The newly finalized text prohibits payouts that resemble bank interest while still allowing for rewards based on genuine platform activity. This stipulation ensures that stablecoin earnings are not mischaracterized as traditional bank deposit interest. Within this framework, stablecoin balances can be considered when calculating rewards, provided they do not equate to interest payments.
Additionally, the bill mandates that federal regulators establish a disclosure framework for stablecoins and publish a comprehensive list of activities that qualify for rewards. This guidance will help determine how exchanges and brokers design their customer incentive structures, reflecting ongoing discussions about what constitutes genuine activity on crypto platforms.
A markup session in the Senate Banking Committee is anticipated to occur as early as the week of May 11. Current market predictions on Polymarket suggest a 68% probability that the CLARITY Act will be signed into law this year, despite earlier missed deadlines and significant pressure from banking lobbyists targeting Tillis.
Coinbase has publicly welcomed this compromise as a crucial win for the cryptocurrency sector. Paul Grewal, the company’s Chief Legal Officer, stated that the discussions over recent months have culminated in an agreement that should not impede the broader bill’s progression. He emphasized that the compromise supports activity-based rewards linked to legitimate participation in crypto networks, which he noted was a primary concern of the banking lobby.
Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, acknowledged advancements in areas like token classification, DeFi safe harbors, and tokenization as part of the overall negotiation outcome.
With the issue of stablecoin yield settled, the focus will now shift to other pressing matters, such as clarifying jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and CFTC, exploring staking protections, and establishing rules for capital formation in the evolving digital asset landscape.
