Crypto trade groups called for a markup of key market structure legislation within hours of U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (RN.C.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) Friday releasing compromise text on the stablecoin dividend in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the last major issue in the bill.
The text prevents crypto companies from paying interest or returns on stablecoin balances in a way that is financially or functionally equivalent to a bank deposit.
It sets out reward programs linked to “bona fide activities or bona fide transactions” and directs the Treasury Department and the CFTC to write rules within one year of enactment.
Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger called the agreement a step in the right direction.
“We commend Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks for their leadership in reaching this agreement,” Mersinger said. “Every day without a clear legal framework is an invitation for top-tier talent, capital and innovative companies to locate elsewhere.”
The Crypto Council for Innovation endorsed the bill while voicing concerns. Its CEO Ji Hun Kim said the new language expands the scope of the ban far beyond last year’s GENIUS Act, which only barred issuers from paying rewards.
“CCI has been clear that we disagree with claims of deposit flight concerns from stablecoin adoption,” Kim wrote on X. The text, he said, “goes WAY beyond” the GENIUS Act by applying to all participants in the digital asset market.
Kim urged the committee to advance the bill anyway. “The North Star must ensure that the US can lead the way in crypto-this is the future. We respectfully ask Senate Banking to move to mark up. The time is now,” he wrote.
Circle Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte, whose company issues USDC and EURC stablecoins, approved the deal without reservation.
“Today’s compromise on the stablecoin dividend marks meaningful progress in the CLARITY Act negotiations,” Disparte said. He pointed to USDC’s growth in cross-border payments, capital market security and agent trading.
“The US faces a clear choice in digital assets: lead or be led,” he said. “Today’s progress is an encouraging signal that America is choosing to lead.”
Coinbase had the most at stake in the negotiations. CEO Brian Armstrong posted “Mark it up” after the text dropped. Chief Counsel Paul Grewal said the language preserves activity-based rewards tied to real participation on crypto platforms, which is what the banking lobby had asked for.
The Senate Banking Committee postponed an earlier CLARITY Act markup in January. Other negotiating points remain unsettled, but the dividend language has been by far the biggest obstacle.
Companies will need to restructure rewards programs from a “buy and hold” model to a “buy and use” model to comply with transaction retentions.
