Major crypto platforms offer yields above 3.5%.
The CLARITY Act on cryptocurrency market regulation may be passed in the U.S. as early as April – this forecast was made by Senator Bernie Moreno in an interview with CNBC recorded at the World Liberty Financial forum at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.
"I hope by April," said Moreno, responding to a question about the timeline for the bill's passage through Congress. Next to him in the studio was Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who explained that the meeting participants – representatives from the cryptocurrency market, the banking sector, and Congress – gathered to find a joint solution regarding market structure.
Back in January, Armstrong withdrew Coinbase's support for the CLARITY bill: the company was dissatisfied with two key points – a ban on yield-generating stablecoins and assigning the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the role of the primary regulator of the cryptocurrency market. The White House called this move a "unilateral" decision that caught the administration off guard.
Now the position has changed. "There is now a path forward where we can achieve a result that is beneficial for all," said Armstrong. According to him, this is about a victory for the cryptocurrency market, for banks, and for American consumers, to "make America the crypto capital of the world" and to implement Trump's crypto agenda.
Moreno, in turn, acknowledged that the issue of stablecoin rewards had been hindering the passage of the law, adding that this point "should not have been in the equation at all." Banks had previously feared that yield-generating stablecoins would siphon off deposits and interest income from the traditional financial system.
The reaction to the optimistic statements was immediate: on the Polymarket platform, the probability of the CLARITY Act being passed in 2026 briefly rose to 90%, although it later adjusted to 72%.
Moreno also dismissed the suggestion that a Democratic victory in the midterm elections could jeopardize the bill. "The House of Representatives will not become Democratic, and neither will the Senate," he stated. Recall that in December of last year, White House advisor David Sacks, who oversees cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence issues, also expressed confidence in the swift passage of the law.
If the CLARITY Act is indeed passed by the end of spring, the U.S. will have one of the clearest regulatory frameworks for the cryptocurrency market among developed economies. A compromise between Coinbase and the banking sector regarding stablecoins will then become one of the key factors that opened the way to the final vote.
From the perspective of systemic risks, the dispute over stablecoin rewards is not just a legislative technicality, but a battle for trillions. The average interest rate on savings accounts in the U.S. is 0.39%, while major crypto platforms offer yields above 3.5% on stablecoins. According to calculations by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, if bank deposits were fully replaced by stablecoins, their volume could shrink by 36.5%, and this number is behind the scenes of every round of negotiations. Regional banks, which provide more than half of the small business lending in the U.S., will be hit hardest.
The historical pattern here is recognizable: a similar battle unfolded in the 1990s when money market funds began to siphon deposits from banks by offering higher yields. At that time, the banking lobby also demanded a legislative barrier, but ultimately the market found equilibrium. The key question now is whether the April deadline is real or just another coordination point before the next round of concessions.
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