Overview
- At the ABA annual convention, senior vice president Brooke Ybarra said allowing exchanges to pay interest on payment stablecoins would be a detriment to banks and community lending.
- Ybarra cited a Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee estimate that as much as $6.6 trillion could move from bank deposits to stablecoins if yield products proliferate.
- Kraken CEO David Ripley responded on X, labeling the ABA's stance as moat building and arguing that consumers should decide where and how to hold value.
- Some platforms advertise yields near 5% on certain stablecoins, outpacing the national average savings rate of about 0.6% and many high-yield accounts near 4%, intensifying competition.
- The debate is framed by the GENIUS Act, which bars direct interest on stablecoins but permits exchanges to structure compensations as rewards, and industry figures such as Dan Spuller have backed Kraken's position.