US bank lobbyists unveiled a survey to back their campaign against US stablecoins returning dividends to their users, trying to bolster their ongoing dispute with results indicating that 57% of people believe Congress should stop crypto firms from offering anything resembling bank interest on stablecoins if it could harm community lending.
The American Bankers Association, which commissioned the study, is among the banking groups seeking 11th-hour changes to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that would establish a US regulatory regime for the crypto industry. The banks are specifically pushing to rewrite the sections involving stablecoins, which their representatives have repeatedly argued to lawmakers and the White House would threaten the interest-bearing deposit accounts at the core of their businesses by pulling out customers.
As the Clarity Act states, crypto platforms would not be allowed to offer returns for static holdings of stablecoins, but they could create reward programs similar to credit card programs for active use of tokens.
“As lawmakers consider creating a regulatory framework for stablecoins and other digital assets, they need to know that Americans do not want them to impose regulations that undermine lending and economic growth,” ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols said in a statement.
CoinDesk saw the results of the online survey conducted by Morning Consult, which surveyed 2,000 American adults with a margin of error of about 2%. The questions in the survey were framed with assumptions that stablecoins are likely to pose a risk to banking and lending — a narrative countered by research from the crypto sector and countered by White House economists.
A separate poll of US voters recently commissioned by CoinDesk revealed that they trusted banks more than crypto when it came to financial inclusion (65% to 5%). Some 52% said in that poll that they believed digital assets were more than a passing fad.
Despite its intent to support the crypto sector’s adversary in this legislative effort, the ABA’s new poll showed relatively high interest from respondents in digital assets, which had been a niche arena until recent years. About 30% of respondents said they were likely to buy or use digital assets in the next year, and 24% said stablecoins and crypto could provide “meaningful benefits” to them.
The survey pool included 17% who said they currently own digital assets, which was 10% less than CoinDesk’s survey of registered voters.
When the polls asked if people thought the approach to crypto regulations should be cautious and not threaten the traditional financial system (specifically mentioning community banks), 61% agreed. A conflicting 15% seemed to suggest that the safety of the rest of the financial system was not an issue when pursuing regulation of digital assets.
Senators working on the Clarity Act have already heard months of arguments from the banks and recently advanced in the Senate Banking Committee a compromise drafted by members from both parties. However, the legislative language still needs to be merged with a similar bill that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee, and more changes will come after that merger if the bill moves on to the Senate floor for a potential vote.
For its part, the crypto industry is pushing hard for the final passage of the Clarity Act, countering other concerns that the legislation could provide openings for the misuse of crypto as a tool for crime and illicit financing. The Blockchain Association has shared a letter signed by 160 former members of the law enforcement, national security and intelligence communities, which advocates for the establishment of “a modern federal framework in the United States for the surveillance of digital assets.”
The association intends to visit the Senate offices with some of those people on Wednesday as the Senate session wraps up its final weeks before its summer break and the height of the midterm election season.
Read more: ‘Banks won’t accept it’: Dimon escalates fight over stablecoin rewards in CLARITY Act debate
