What to know:
- Stablecoin yield text may be released today after months of private talks.
- Draft rules ban passive stablecoin yield but allow rewards tied to real platform use.
- The Treasury and CFTC would define reward rules within one year if the bill becomes law.
A Senate compromise on stablecoin yield rules is nearing release after months of private talks. Sources say the final text could arrive as soon as today. The move may clear a major obstacle that has slowed the CLARITY Act since January for lawmakers.
Eleanor Terrett, a journalist, has verified that they reached out to Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks. That is an indication that negotiations are at the last phase. The language has the potential to pave the way to a Senate Banking Committee markup in May.
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Stablecoin Yield Ban Allows Activity Rewards
The bill would prevent the issuers of stablecoins from compensating users to hold tokens. Any interest in the form of bank deposit would be prohibited. The limit includes both direct and indirect payments. It also includes cash, tokens, credits, or benefits that are attached solely to a balance.
Rewards based on actual activity are not prohibited by the proposal. The users were able to get a payoff in terms of transactions, use of the platform, or network. This creates a narrow path for incentives while ending passive stablecoin yield models. It would drive companies towards usage rewards.
The compromise indicates both-sided pressure. Banks demanded restrictions since they were afraid that stablecoins would replace deposits. Cryptocurrency companies wanted space to maintain rewarding the users. The draft provides stricter roadblocks. It also maintains activity-based rewards.
Coinbase executives supported the result. Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said that banks had obtained better limits and the industry had maintained activity-related rewards. CEO Brian Armstrong encouraged the bill to go to markup.
CLARITY Act Moves Past Yield Hurdle
The draft would leave some major issues that regulators would define in the future. In case it passes, the Treasury Department and the CFTC would have 12 months to draft detailed rules.
Such rules would describe the measurement of rewards. Regulators can examine aspects like holding period, balance size, reward structure, and type of user activity.
The deal eliminates one of the biggest impediments of the CLARITY Act. The other sections of the bill remain to be discussed, such as token classification, DeFi regulation, and tokenization frameworks. But one of the key problems that slowed down the Senate had been stablecoin yield.
It is also a compromise that is the result of the GENIUS Act that was signed in July 2025. That legislation prohibited direct interest but permitted loopholes around exchange-based incentives. The new language would bridge that gap. It would also extend yield limits on stablecoins throughout the market.
In case the markup proceeds in May, the bill would pass an important Senate stage. The broader package of crypto market structure would then be discussed by lawmakers. For now, the stablecoin yield deal gives negotiators a path forward.
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