Overview
- Brian Armstrong reversed months of opposition and endorsed the CLARITY Act late this week, removing the largest industry holdout.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the Senate to act in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, and the heads of the SEC and CFTC said they are ready to implement the law once passed.
- The central hang-up is stablecoin yield, which means paying passive returns on dollar-pegged tokens, as banks push for tighter limits and crypto firms object.
- A White House Council of Economic Advisers report estimated that a full ban on passive stablecoin yield would cost consumers about $800 million a year with little benefit for bank deposits.
- Senators return April 13 with roughly two weeks for a Senate Banking Committee markup, after which the bill could advance oversight splits between the SEC and CFTC and may lock in XRP’s commodity status for institutional use.