Crypto Industry Supports CLARITY Act Compromise on Yield, Urges Senate Banking Committee to Proceed with Markup

Within hours of US Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks releasing a compromise text on stablecoin yield in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, crypto trade groups called for a markup of key market structure legislation. The text prohibits crypto firms from paying interest or yield on stablecoin balances in a manner equivalent to a bank deposit, but carves out rewards programs tied to 'bona fide activities or bona fide transactions.' The agreement directs Treasury and the CFTC to write rules within a year of enactment. Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger praised the deal as a step in the right direction, stating that every day without a clear legal framework invites top-tier talent, capital, and innovative companies to locate elsewhere. The Crypto Council for Innovation endorsed the bill while expressing concerns, with CEO Ji Hun Kim saying the new language extends the prohibition framework beyond last year's GENIUS Act. Kim urged the committee to advance the bill, emphasizing that the US should lead on crypto. Circle Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte endorsed the deal without qualification, pointing to USDC's growth in cross-border payments, capital markets collateral, and agentic commerce. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal also expressed support for the language, which preserves activity-based rewards tied to real participation on crypto platforms. The Senate Banking Committee had postponed an earlier CLARITY Act markup in January, but the yield language has largely been the greatest obstacle. To comply with the transaction caveats, firms will need to restructure rewards programs from a 'buy and hold' model to a 'buy and use' one.