President Donald Trump has urged major banks to halt efforts he says are weakening the digital asset industry and instead to work with crypto firms to advance key market structure legislation, the CLARITY Act.
In a statement on Truth Social on Tuesday, the US commander-in-chief asserted that the US must move quickly to secure its position in the global crypto race and that market structure reform is essential to provide clarity for companies and investors while keeping the industry anchored in America.
This is viewed as the toughest intervention so far by Trump in an ongoing impasse that has stalled progress on comprehensive digital asset regulation.
The conflict largely focuses on the question of whether exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken, can provide interest-like returns on stablecoin balances.
The banking lobby contends that allowing crypto platforms to pay competitive yields on stablecoin deposits would trigger significant deposit flight from traditional savings accounts, potentially destabilizing a core pillar of the conventional financial system.
Crypto advocates counter that such restrictions amount to protectionism designed to shield banks from legitimate competition, arguing that American consumers deserve access to higher returns on their holdings.
The GENIUS Act, which Trump signed last July, established the first comprehensive federal framework for stablecoin issuers, setting baseline standards for reserve backing and prohibiting direct interest payments to token holders.
However, the legislation left a significant gap by not clearly addressing whether third-party platforms could offer yield through alternative mechanisms, a loophole that both crypto exchanges and their banking rivals have spent months fighting over.
The Clarity Act is intended to resolve this ambiguity while establishing market-structure rules that define asset classifications and delineate regulatory jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The House of Representatives passed the measure on July 17, 2025, with substantial bipartisan support in a 294–134 vote. Yet the legislation has languished in the Senate, where banking industry concerns have found receptive ears among lawmakers wary of disrupting established financial institutions.
A White House-imposed deadline for reaching a compromise on the stablecoin yield question lapsed without resolution, contributing to mounting uncertainty about whether any deal can be struck before the approaching midterm elections inject additional political volatility into the process.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency added another layer of complexity in late February when it proposed rules clarifying restrictions on indirect yield payments for stablecoin customers.
