Rumors emerge of a CLARITY Act deal between White House and lawmakers

The deal reportedly focuses on stablecoin yield and interest-bearing stable tokens, a major pain point for the banking industry.

Rumors are circulating that a tentative deal has been struck between the White House and US lawmakers on stablecoin yield, potentially moving the CLARITY crypto market structure bill forward.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks, both members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, have reached an “agreement in principle,” according to a Friday Politico report.

“I think what it will do is to allow us to protect innovation, but also gives us the opportunity to prevent widespread deposit flight,” Alsobrooks said, adding that the deal prohibits stablecoin yield on “passive balances.”

Specific details of the prospective deal have yet to emerge, and Senator Tillis said the crypto industry must vet the agreement before it is finalized. 

Cointelegraph reached out to the White House for details on the prospective deal but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Speaking at the DC Blockchain Summit on Wednesday, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the biggest advocates for digital asset policy on the Hill, said, “We are so close” to passing a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework.

A spokesperson for Senator Lummis told Cointelegraph on Wednesday that a deal is expected to materialize in “the next few days,” and that Senator Lummis is working to hammer out ethics language in the bill.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, otherwise known as the CLARITY Act, is a major piece of crypto legislation and was widely anticipated to pass without issue after the GENIUS stablecoin framework was signed into law.

However, the bill stalled in January after major industry players, including crypto exchange Coinbase, voiced concerns, including whether stablecoin issuers could share yield with token holders. 

Related: CLARITY Act risks handing crypto to centralized players: Gnosis exec

The banking industry opposes yield-bearing stablecoins, citing concerns over the flight of bank deposits, which have yields far below 1%, and the erosion of banking market share.

Patrick Witt, the executive director of the White House Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said that these concerns are overblown.

A wave of fresh capital will likely enter the US banking industry if dollar-pegged yield-bearing stablecoins are legalized and regulated, Witt said.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in the stablecoin fight

Source: CoinTelegraph