A White House-brokered meeting between crypto and bank representatives to reach an agreement on stablecoin provisions in the market structure bill has been described as “productive,” but remains unresolved.
“Productive session at the White House today — compromise is in the air,” Ripple legal chief Stuart Alderoty, one of the meeting’s attendees, posted to X on Tuesday.
“Clear, bipartisan momentum remains behind sensible crypto market structure legislation. We should move now — while the window is still open,” he added.
Congress is looking to pass a bill to define how US market regulators are to police crypto. The House passed a similar bill, the CLARITY Act, in July, but the effort has stalled as the Senate Banking Committee has yet to garner enough bipartisan support to advance it.
Momentum to advance the bill was lost when major crypto lobbyist Coinbase pulled its support for the bill last month over provisions that would prohibit all yield payments tied to stablecoins.
Banking lobbyists have argued that yield payments to stablecoin holders on third-party platforms such as exchanges pose a risk to bank deposits and could undermine the banking system.
Bankers, crypto flag need for more discussions
The meeting on Tuesday was the second in two weeks to bring banks and the crypto industry to the White House; the first on Feb. 2 was described by White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt as “constructive” and “fact-based.”
Dan Spuller, the industry affairs lead at crypto advocacy group the Blockchain Association, posted to X that the latest meeting “was a smaller, more focused session” with “serious problem-solving.”
“Stablecoin rewards were front and center,” he added. “Banks did not come to negotiate from the bill text, instead arriving with broad prohibitive principles, which remains a key disagreement.”
A handout given at the meeting by the banking groups reportedly listed “yield and interest prohibition principles” that should be included in the Senate’s crypto bill, reiterating the group’s push to ban all stablecoin yield payments.
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Three major banking groups, the American Bankers Association, the Bank Policy Institute, and the Independent Community Bankers of America, said in a joint statement that “ongoing discussions” were needed to move the legislation forward.
They added that a “framework can and must embrace financial innovation without undermining safety and soundness, and without putting the bank deposits that fuel local lending and drive economic activity at risk.”
Meanwhile, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said that both crypto and banks “should stop re-litigating” the GENIUS Act, which banned stablecoin issuers from paying yield directly, to get the market structure bill across the line.
“That battle was fought. If you don’t like GENIUS, amend it,” he added. “Market structure has nothing to do with yield on stablecoins and must not be delayed further.”
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