The US Senate arrives at a turning point for digital assets. After several months of tension, the banking commission must examine the CLARITY Act this Thursday, a text expected to regulate a large part of the crypto market in the United States. However, three issues remain sensitive: returns on stablecoins, ethics rules for elected officials and the protection of DeFi developers.
In brief
- The vote on the CLARITY Act in the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled for May 14, after several months of negotiations on the regulation of the American crypto market.
- The yield of stablecoins remains the main sticking point between traditional banks and companies in the crypto sector.
- The ethics rules concerning elected officials divide senators, particularly on when they should be integrated into the text.
- The DeFi side is moving forward with a compromise around BRCA, intended to protect developers while addressing national security concerns.
CLARITY Act: stablecoin yield divides banks and platforms
As the vote on the CLARITY Act set for this Thursday approaches, the performance of stablecoins is emerging as one of the most sensitive points of the negotiations. The first standoff pits traditional banks against digital asset companies. Banking establishments want to limit the ability of platforms to offer rewards on dollar-backed stablecoins. These returns can lure customers away from traditional savings accounts.
On the other hand, players in the sector believe that these programs have already found a legal basis with the GENIUS law. They therefore wish to maintain their access to the public. In January, Coinbase distanced itself from the text, for fear of a tightening desired by the banks.
However, a compromise presented by Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks tries to reduce the pressure. It limits rewards in some cases, while maintaining them in other situations. The crypto sector supports this avenue, while banks still see flaws. The CLARITY Act therefore comes to the vote with a fragile balance on stablecoins.
Ethics rules shake up crypto debate in Senate
The second front concerns elected officials and their own digital projects. Several Democratic senators want to limit the ability of public officials to launch or promote cryptocurrency-related products while in office. The White House has long opposed a ban on initiatives associated with President Donald Trump.
The disagreement also concerns the calendar. Tim Scott, chairman of the banking commission, says these ethics rules are not his commission's responsibility. According to him, the subject must await the final vote in plenary session. But pro-crypto Democrats, including Ruben Gallego, dispute this reading and threaten to vote against the CLARITY Act if these guarantees remain absent.
This tension weighs on the search for bipartisan support. Even if the text can pass in committee on a partisan line, its promoters know that it will have to obtain seven Democratic votes in plenary session. Thus, a broad agreement would facilitate the future. For several stakeholders, a subsequent debate on ethics remains possible and would not necessarily block the CLARITY Act. The sequence remains central to the future of the regulated crypto market.
DeFi and BRCA: an agreement seeks to reassure security
The third file concerns decentralized finance and software developers. The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, or BRCA, was appended to the CLARITY Act in the fall. It aims to protect certain developers of privacy tools from prosecution as illegal money transmitters.
This protection worries senators sensitive to national security issues. Chuck Grassley, on the Republican side, and Catherine Cortez Mastro, on the Democratic side, expressed reservations. Their fear concerns the risk of creating too large an area for activities that are difficult to control.
On Monday, Cynthia Lummis announced an agreement with Grassley on this aspect. A sentence would be added to the BRCA part to clarify the level of intent necessary to qualify an operator as an illegal funds transfer operator. This revision seeks to clarify the framework, without removing the desired protection for crypto developers. The CLARITY Act thus retains its ambition to provide benchmarks for decentralized activities.
The vote on May 14 should measure the political solidity of the text. If the disagreements remain open, the negotiators have margins before the summer shutdown of Congress. The CLARITY Act could therefore progress narrowly, then move the most sensitive debates to the plenary session, which represents a direct challenge for the crypto sector in the United States.
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