What you’ll read: Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo is leaving full-time law to go all in on crypto; the Senate is back with the Clarity Act in the spotlight; and bankers respond to the White House stablecoin report. Plus, our usual slate of what to watch this week.

Former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo is stepping down from his role as Senior Counsel at white-shoe law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher to focus full-time on digital assets and AI, Crypto In America has learned.

Giancarlo, who many in the industry call “Crypto Dad,” says he is retiring from practicing law at the end of April to focus on strategic advisory work, private investing, research and writing on public policy issues relating to crypto, and philanthropic initiatives.

At Willkie, Giancarlo advised digital asset firms on regulatory strategy and helped build the firm’s crypto-focused legal practice.

“After six years building Willkie Digital Works, I’ve decided to head out on an exciting new road toward the crypto future of finance,” Giancarlo told Crypto In America. “I look forward to continuing to assist digital asset innovators in building the crypto architecture of 21st Century finance. There has never been a more promising time in America than now.”

Giancarlo will also be promoting his upcoming book, “The New Adventures of CryptoDad: The Quest for Financial Freedom in the 21st Century,” set for release in October. The book chronicles the evolution of the crypto industry through the 2024 presidential election, the first year of the second Trump administration, and the broader shift toward an “Internet of Value.”

In addition to more regular performances with his band, Crypto Kings, Giancarlo said he’ll share more details on new projects and initiatives in the coming months.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The Senate is back in session, and all eyes are on the Banking Committee to notice a markup for the Clarity Act. In the past, markups have been noticed the week prior, so if Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Republican leadership are targeting the week of the 20th, we could see a notice as soon as this week. If the markup slips to the final week of April, a notice would likely come next week instead.

Additionally, ears are to the ground for any statements from Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) on the final stablecoin yield compromise. White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt told Crypto In America on Friday that a compromise has been reached and that he is confident the various parties will stand by it.

“We’ll know we got it right when both sides are equally unhappy…and I think we probably arrived at that place,” Witt said. It remains unclear whether the text will be released publicly ahead of the markup.

Witt also said he believed lingering issues around DeFi, tokenization and ethics could be resolved in the days ahead.

Elsewhere ….

11:00 a.m.: The Solana Policy Institute will kick off its “Washington x Wall Street” event in Brooklyn, featuring speakers such as White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt, Congressman William Timmons (R-SC), former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, and others.

Crypto In America will host a live, on-stage podcast episode with Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, at 2:20 p.m.

Comment period closes for the National Credit Union Administration’s proposed rule on permitted payment stablecoin issuer applications.

Tuesday

The House is back in session.

JPMorgan and BlackRock report quarterly results before markets open.

8:15 a.m.: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at the Institute of International Finance.

8:30 a.m.: We’ll get a read on inflation when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the March Producer Price Index (PPI).

2:00 p.m.: Brookings Institute hosts an event on prediction markets featuring a discussion with Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

Wednesday

Happy Tax Day!

Morgan Stanley reports quarterly results before the opening bell.

10:15 a.m.: The House Budget Committee holds a hearing with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought.

2:00 p.m.: The Fed publishes its latest Beige Book, giving a snapshot of economic conditions across the country ahead of its next policy meeting.

Thursday

10:00 a.m.: CFTC Chairman Michael Selig is set to testify in front of the House Agriculture Committee.

Vought will testify before the Senate Budget Committee.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions will hold a hearing entitled, “Promoting Access to Credit for Everyday Americans”

Friday

Bank of New York (BNY) reports quarterly results before the opening bell.

2:00 p.m.: Fed Governor Christopher Waller discusses the economic outlook at Auburn University.

Banks Respond to White House Stablecoin Report

The American Bankers Association is pushing back on the White House’s stablecoin report, arguing that it understates the risks of allowing yield on payment stablecoins.

In a new blog post released Monday morning, the trade group representing banks of all sizes across the U.S. said the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is asking the wrong question by focusing on the impact of banning yield, rather than what happens if yield is allowed to scale.

The banks’ core concern here is that yield-bearing stablecoins could accelerate deposit flight, particularly from community banks, raising funding costs and reducing local lending.

While the CEA found that prohibiting yield would have a minimal impact on lending, the banks are arguing that the analysis is based on today’s relatively small stablecoin market, and doesn’t account for a scenario where the sector grows to $1 trillion to $2 trillion.

The banks are also pushing back on the idea that deposits would simply be “reshuffled” within the banking system, warning that even if total deposits remain stable, shifts away from smaller banks could reduce credit availability in local communities.

In response to the blog, White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt told Crypto In America, “The degree to which banks are tilting at windmills over the issue of stablecoin rewards is enough to make Don Quixote blush.”

It’s unclear what impact, if any, the bankers’ view will have on the current state of the stablecoin compromise.

Tracking GENIUS Act Rulemaking: New Dashboard from Paradigm

Finding it tough to keep track of all the GENIUS Act rulemakings? So are we.

Paradigm just dropped a new dashboard tracking the 22 proposed rules across six federal agencies involved in the rulemaking process. It shows each rule’s stage, days since enactment and implementation timeline. Check it out here.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• In a spat on X, TRON founder Justin Sun accused World Liberty Financial of opaque governance and unfair token lockups, prompting a response from the Trump-backed platform: “see you in court.”

• Tokens linked to President Trump took a nosedive over the weekend, with memecoin TRUMP down 91% and World Liberty Financial down 75% from highs.

• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said, “It’s time to pass the Clarity Act,” responding to an op-ed from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging the same.

• Circle responded to the Drift exploit, arguing that its ability to freeze funds is a legal obligation rather than a discretionary power. It also warned that gaps between fast-moving technology and slower legal frameworks are limiting the industry’s ability to respond to exploits.

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What you’ll read: A White House report suggests stablecoin yield may not be the threat to banks they’ve warned of; Roman Storm returns to court; Mysten Labs co-founder and CEO Evan Cheng joins the podcast; and the news driving headlines this week.

A report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers released Wednesday morning finds that prohibiting yield on stablecoins would have only a minimal impact on preventing deposit flight from banks, suggesting those concerns may be overstated.

The report comes amid a months-long standoff between banking and crypto lobbyists that has stalled market structure legislation in the Senate, with banks warning that yield-bearing stablecoins would drive deposit flight and hit lending, and the crypto industry arguing there’s little evidence to back that up. It also follows weeks of pressure from Senate Banking lawmakers, including Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), on the White House to release the report to inform ongoing negotiations with industry, as Crypto In America reported last month.

The White House analysis is model-based, using current market conditions to simulate how stablecoin yield would affect deposits and lending under different scenarios. Under those conditions, the model finds that eliminating yield would increase bank lending by just $2.1 billion, about 0.02% of total loans, while resulting in a roughly $800 million net welfare loss, meaning the costs to consumers outweigh the benefits to the system. The report also tests a worst-case scenario where stablecoins could more meaningfully impact lending, but only under conditions that do not reflect today’s system, including zero excess reserves and a major shift in Fed policy.

“The yield prohibition in the GENIUS Act—and its proposed reinforcement through the CLARITY Act—may be motivated by the concern that competitive stablecoin returns will draw deposits out of the banking system and contract lending,” the report says. “Our model shows that this concern is quantitatively small.”

The conclusions align more closely with the crypto industry’s view that allowing customers to earn yield on stablecoins would have limited impact on bank business models.

“The facts matter, and it’s good to see the Council of Economic Advisers confirm that stablecoins aren’t a threat to community banks. Stablecoins are a big win for consumers and a big opportunity for banks. Rewards are critical to preserving those benefits,” said Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad, whose company has been a leading advocate for allowing customers to earn yield after CEO Brian Armstrong withdrew support for the market structure bill in January, citing excessive deference to banks on the issue.

It’s unclear what, if any, implications the study could have on a potential deal between banks and the crypto industry on allowing yield and rewards on stablecoins. As Crypto In America reported on Monday, parties close to the negotiations have remained largely silent on where things stand, though two sources close to the process expressed hope that negotiations are in a good place.

Crypto In America reached out to spokespeople for Sen. Tillis and Sen. Alsobrooks, the two senators leading negotiations on the yield compromise, as well as banking representatives, but did not hear back in time for publication.

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Roman Storm Returns to Court

Eight months after Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm was found guilty in the Southern District of New York of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, a federal judge will hear arguments Thursday on whether that conviction should be thrown out.

Quick recap: In August 2025, a jury deadlocked on more serious charges tied to money laundering and sanctions violations, and Storm was released on bail following his conviction on a single count of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. His defense is now asking the court to throw out that conviction, arguing the government failed to prove he knowingly agreed to facilitate illicit activity through the privacy mixer he co-founded. The DOJ has also indicated it plans to retry the case on the two unresolved counts, with a tentative retrial set for October.

New wrinkle: Just days before the hearing, federal prosecutors pushed back on Storm’s attempt to lean on a recent Supreme Court ruling (Cox v. Sony), calling it irrelevant. The defense had argued the case — which limits liability for platforms over user behavior — could support Storm’s position that he should not be held liable for how bad actors used Tornado Cash. The DOJ disagrees, arguing in a letter to the court that Storm failed to take meaningful steps to prevent illicit activity and had direct knowledge of illegal funds flowing through Tornado Cash, including those tied to a $600M North Korea-linked hack.

In response, Storm’s defense lawyer Keri Curtis Axel told Crypto In America, “We look forward to addressing the government’s letter at the hearing on Thursday.”

Why it matters: Judge Failla’s decision will be another key indicator of how U.S. law treats open-source software developers at a crucial time for the industry, as key legislation moves through Congress that includes protections for developers. It also comes amid recent guidance from the U.S. Treasury acknowledging lawful uses for blockchain privacy tools.

For more on the case, check out this blog post from our friends at the DeFi Education Fund.

Sui Founder on Building for Institutions, Stablecoin Yield Policy, and the AI–Crypto Future

This week on the podcast, we sat down with Evan Cheng, co-founder and CEO of Mysten Labs, the team behind the Sui blockchain, to talk about how crypto is evolving from experimental infrastructure into the backbone of modern financial technology.

Cheng walked through building Mysten Labs and Sui in a shifting U.S. regulatory environment, how that clarity is unlocking new business models, and where institutions are leaning in today. We also dig into what limits on stablecoin yield could mean for bank competitiveness amid the broader policy debate in Washington, and why he believes AI-driven agents will reshape payments and position blockchain as the trust layer for an automated economy.

Watch this episode on all platforms here.

Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• Bitcoin jumped following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran on Tuesday, pushing the asset above $71,000, while oil fell roughly 16% to around $90–$95 as the Strait of Hormuz reopened.

• Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF launched on NYSE Arca under the ticker MSBT, marking the first time a major U.S. bank has issued a spot Bitcoin ETF under its own name.

• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved a proposed rule to govern stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act, setting capital, liquidity, and custody standards, with Chair Travis Hill reaffirming that tokenized deposits will be treated as traditional bank deposits. The rule will be open for a 60-day comment period.

• Robinhood and BNY Mellon have been tapped by the U.S. Treasury to serve as trustee and build the brokerage platform for Trump Accounts, custodial retirement accounts for children under 18.

• SEC Chair Paul Atkins said a safe harbor proposal for capital raising in crypto has advanced to White House review, with a formal rule expected shortly.

• Binance founder CZ released his autobiography “Freedom of Money,” recounting the building of the exchange, its run-ins with regulators, and his time in prison.

• CME Group announced plans to launch Avalanche and Sui futures on May 4 pending regulatory approval.

• The U.S. Treasury’s FinCEN proposed sweeping changes to bank anti-money laundering programs, with a renewed focus on combating illicit finance.

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What you’ll read: The tick-tock on stablecoin yield and the Clarity Act, what to watch this week, and the headlines you might have missed.

Senators have one more week of calm before returning to a storm of spring activity: confirming Federal Reserve Chair nominee Kevin Warsh, advancing a reconciliation package and, most important to the crypto industry, passing the Clarity Act.

As it stands, the key issue holding up the bill — a debate between banks and crypto over how companies can offer rewards on customers’ stablecoin holdings without triggering deposit flight — appears to be at an inflection point after a second round of meetings with Senate staffers late last week.

According to two industry sources who spoke with Crypto In America on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, one from crypto and one from banking, stakeholders reviewed the latest compromise language Thursday, with banks briefed Friday. Neither would discuss details but said they were hopeful a workable solution had been reached this time.

The revised deal follows two months of tense negotiations that ended in industry dissatisfaction with a late-March draft from Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), and the White House, which some stakeholders, including Coinbase and Stripe, balked at.

A Stripe spokesperson declined to comment. A Coinbase spokesperson also declined to comment, though its Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal sparked some excitement following a TV interview last Wednesday in which the host said Coinbase had indicated “a deal could come together within 48 hours.” Asked if he believed that to be true, Grewal said he was “very confident” he would see progress.

So far, silence, and it remains unclear whether the Senate Banking Committee plans to release the deal text publicly ahead of a markup many expect Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) to schedule in the final two weeks of April.

Meanwhile, a White House Council of Economic Advisers study on stablecoin yield and its potential impact on deposit flight and bank lending has yet to be released, as Banking Committee members continue to press for its publication. Crypto In America first reported on the study last month after a Senate Republican meeting on market structure, where Tillis and others pressed White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt to make it public.

The study is said to include economic analysis that leans positive for crypto in the debate over deposit flight. It’s not clear why the White House appears to be holding back the report.

If the yield issue is indeed moving to the back burner, it means Banking Committee staff and members, once they return, have the next two weeks to close out, as best they can, remaining issues related to DeFi, tokenization, and token classification. With time ticking down, ethics concerns may ramp up again as Democrats grow wary of an April 25 event for TRUMP memecoin holders at Mar-a-Lago, set to feature the president around the same time as a potential markup.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The House and Senate are out on Easter break.

9:00 a.m.: Vanderbilt University and the Blockchain Association will host the Digital Assets and Emerging Technology Policy Summit, featuring speakers including Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR), Rep. William Timmons (R-SC), SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig.

Crypto In America’s Eleanor Terrett will moderate a discussion with Reps. Hill and Timmons at 1:30 p.m. CT.

Tuesday

11:00 a.m.: SEC Chair Atkins will deliver a keynote at the Texas Stock Exchange’s “BOOM BELT” event in Miami alongside Govs. Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott.

1:00 p.m.: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will hold a board meeting to vote on proposed stablecoin rules, as part of a broader push to establish prudential standards for issuers.

Wednesday

9:00 a.m.: Token Americas, a stablecoin and digital payments summit, kicks off at the University of Miami.

2:00 p.m.: The Fed releases its March meeting minutes, detailing policymakers’ latest views on inflation, interest rates, and the economic outlook.

Thursday

8:30 a.m.: Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, is out from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, tracking price changes in consumer spending.

The Commerce Department publishes its second estimate of Q4 GDP.

Friday

8:30 a.m.: CPI data, another inflation gauge, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is due. PCE and CPI data will test whether the Fed can keep holding off on rate cuts.

10:00 a.m.: University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment data due, offering a snapshot of how consumers view the economy.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Drift Protocol said the $285 million April 1 hack was carried out through a months-long, targeted social engineering operation by North Korean hackers.

• Bitcoin climbed toward $70,000 over the weekend on signs of possible de-escalation in the Iran conflict, plus a short squeeze that liquidated more than $270 million in short positions.

• Todd Blanche, author of the DOJ memo that scaled back federal crypto enforcement, is now serving as interim U.S. Attorney General following Pam Bondi’s departure.

• The CFTC sued Illinois, Arizona, and Connecticut over efforts to block prediction market platforms it says fall under its exclusive federal oversight.

• The Treasury Department released a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on its implementation of the GENIUS Act.

• Coinbase received conditional approval for a national trust charter from the OCC, joining Circle, Ripple, Paxos, and other crypto firms that received similar approvals in December.

• Charles Schwab teased Bitcoin and Ethereum trading for customers is coming “soon” under a new ‘Schwab Crypto’ initiative and has opened signups for updates and potential early access.

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says tokenized finance, where trades settle instantly, could reshape finance by cutting out intermediaries but may also accelerate market stress in downturns.

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What you’ll read: Bitcoin gets its first muni-style credit rating; the public release of a stablecoin yield compromise is delayed; an Alaska Senate candidate’s fundraiser raises eyebrows in crypto circles; and LayerZero’s co-founder joins the podcast. Plus, the headlines shaping this week.

Moody’s has officially put a stamp on New Hampshire’s Bitcoin-backed bond, assigning a provisional Ba2 rating to the $100 million issuance first reported by Crypto In America in November.

This marks the first time a municipal-style bond backed by Bitcoin has been evaluated using traditional credit frameworks. The rating is especially timely, giving institutional investors a way to assess and potentially allocate to crypto-linked fixed income as regulation around blockchain-based instruments grows clearer.

The bond is structured through New Hampshire’s Business Finance Authority as a conduit with no taxpayer backing. Investors are instead protected by overcollateralized Bitcoin held in custody by BitGo; repayments are tied to the liquidation of that collateral if needed.

The structure will look familiar to fixed-income investors: the borrower posts roughly 160% in Bitcoin, with triggers that force liquidation if collateral levels fall. The difference is the asset. Traditional bonds are typically backed by predictable cash flows or government taxing power, whereas this structure relies on the value of Bitcoin held as collateral.

Moody’s based its Ba2 rating on risks tied to the collateral, structure and operations, particularly Bitcoin’s volatility. The rating places the bonds in speculative-grade territory, making them suitable for risk-tolerant investors, but generally outside the scope of more conservative portfolios.

Still, the bigger picture is that Bitcoin has entered the credit ratings system, potentially paving the way for a larger role in the $140 trillion global bond market.

The development follows another notable step for crypto in traditional finance this week, as the U.S. Labor Department issued a proposal to allow alternative assets like cryptocurrency and private equity in retirement accounts.

Stablecoin Yield Text No Longer Expected This Week

The broader crypto industry will have to wait a bit longer to see the final version of a compromise between industry stakeholders and the Senate Banking Committee over stablecoin yield and rewards.

In a shift from last week’s guidance, a spokesperson for Senator Thom Tillis’s (R-NC) office told Crypto In America on Wednesday that the text is no longer expected to be released publicly this week. A source familiar with the matter said the delay reflects concerns that releasing the text ahead of a markup, now expected in the back half of the month, could give opponents an opening to slow the bill’s progress.

The update comes as talks have continued in recent days between crypto and banking groups, following dissatisfaction with an earlier draft agreed to by Tillis, Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), and the White House.

Crypto Campaign Watch

With seven months to go until the midterms, the crypto industry is making another coordinated push to influence election outcomes after a major showing in 2024. Crypto In America will track the candidates, spending, key races, and the stories shaping the 2026 midterm elections.

Today, Fellowship PAC, a pro-crypto super PAC that launched last year, named Tether’s VP of Regulatory Affairs, Jesse Spiro, as chairman, as the body ramps up efforts to back pro-industry candidates ahead of the midterms. The group says it will begin rolling out its first slate of candidate endorsements in the coming days.

On Monday, members of the Digital Chamber launched a new hybrid PAC, the Blockchain Leadership Fund. The group will both donate directly to pro-crypto candidates, and spend independently on advertising to support or oppose campaigns based on their alignment with industry priorities.

That alignment is something backers of the $2.4 trillion crypto industry are taking seriously.

One Democratic Senate candidate in Alaska is drawing criticism from some industry watchers for associating with a sitting House member who is widely viewed by the industry as anti-crypto.

Mary Peltola, a former U.S. House member from Alaska who is running against incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, attended a fundraiser hosted on her behalf by Sean Gard, Chief of Staff to Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), sources familiar with the event tell Crypto In America.

Moore, who had voted against a handful of pro-crypto legislation, including the GENIUS Act and the Clarity Act, has an ‘F’ rating on Stand With Crypto’s politician scorecard, which tracks members of Congress’ voting records and prior statements on crypto.

“Peltola has an ‘A’ rating on Stand With Crypto, so it’s notable that she would align herself politically and financially with those outside that camp,” said one industry source who requested anonymity.

Sullivan also has an ‘A’ rating on the website.

Alaska is not traditionally a battleground state, but the Senate race is emerging as a potential sleeper contest in 2026, with early polling pointing to a tighter matchup between Sullivan and Peltola. No crypto-linked PAC spending has been reported so far, but groups like Fairshake are sitting on nearly $200 million, so the race could become a target as the election draws closer.

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LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino on Interoperability and Bringing TradFi Onchain

This week on the podcast, we sat down with Bryan Pellegrino, co-founder and CEO of LayerZero Labs.

Bryan spoke about how the 2011 U.S. online poker ban led him to crypto, his early days in sports betting, and what he learned about the risks of insecure and centralized cross-chain bridges.

We also dove into how interoperability is evolving, LayerZero’s recent growth and institutional partnerships, and what it takes to connect traditional finance to public blockchains.

Plus, Bryan broke down how policymakers in Washington are approaching cross-chain infrastructure, and what the Clarity Act could mean for bringing regulated capital markets onchain.

Watch this episode on all platforms here.

Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• Franklin Templeton launched Franklin Crypto, a new institutional-grade crypto investment unit, and said it plans to acquire a CoinFund spinoff as it looks to expand deeper into digital assets.

• Bitcoin logged its worst first quarter since 2018, declining 22% in Q1 2026.

• Gold posted its worst monthly decline since October 2008, down 15% in March.

• The U.S. DOJ charged 10 foreign nationals across four crypto firms for alleged pump-and-dump schemes in crypto markets. Three executives, including two CEOs, were arrested and extradited from Singapore to face trial.

• Two crypto bills cleared Arizona’s House Rules Committee, putting them on a fast track to a full House vote. SB1042 would allow state funds to invest up to 10% in crypto, while SB1649 would create a digital assets reserve fund.

• The U.S. Labor Department proposed a rule that would make it easier for 401(k) plans to include alternative assets like crypto, real estate and private equity.

• President Trump’s net worth hit an estimated $6.5 billion as of March 2026, driven by crypto gains, licensing deals, and real estate, according to Forbes.

• Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the “Mined in America Act,” aimed at boosting U.S. crypto mining, reducing reliance on foreign hardware, and codifying a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

• Binance is set to launch oil and gas futures on April 1, offering up to 100x leverage.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

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What you’ll read: A final stablecoin yield compromise is expected to be released publicly this week; members of the Digital Chamber launch a hybrid PAC. Plus, what to watch and a look back at Friday’s and weekend headlines.

Congress is out for two weeks on Easter recess, but behind the scenes work on the Clarity Act is set to ramp up.

Senators are expected to release final legislative text this week detailing the revised stablecoin yield and rewards compromise, including how crypto firms can offer rewards without driving deposit flight from banks.

The revised version follows industry dissatisfaction with an earlier draft agreed to by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and the White House, which some stakeholders, including Coinbase and Stripe, balked at after review. Under that proposal, companies would be barred from offering yield “directly or indirectly” on passive stablecoin balances or anything equivalent to interest, while still allowing activity-based rewards.

A Tillis spokesperson told Crypto In America that the new text follows conversations with industry stakeholders, including banks.

With the Banking Committee now eyeing the last two weeks of April for a potential markup, that leaves about three weeks for industry and lawmakers to resolve other remaining issues before another push to move the Clarity Act out of committee and onto the Senate floor. Outstanding quibbles around DeFi, token classification and tokenization are expected to shape the final days before Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) puts a markup on the calendar.

Anchorage Digital Backs New Crypto Hybrid PAC

Anchorage Digital is jumping into crypto’s campaign finance arena.

The crypto custodian, alongside Chainlink, is a founding member of the Blockchain Leadership Fund, a new bipartisan hybrid PAC launched by members of the Digital Chamber to advance pro-crypto regulation in the U.S. The firm also made an undisclosed donation.

It marks a first for Anchorage, which has maintained a steady lobbying presence on Capitol Hill but until now has not committed funds to a pro-crypto political effort.

Structured as a hybrid PAC, meaning it can both donate directly to candidates and spend independently, the Blockchain Leadership Fund is one of a handful of crypto-friendly political groups to emerge since the 2024 election, when corporate crypto money, funneled largely through the super PAC Fairshake and its affiliates, helped elect dozens of pro-crypto members of Congress and return Donald Trump to the White House.

In the year and a half since, the landscape has shifted in crypto’s favor, but Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley tells Crypto In America the work is far from over.

“In 2026, with market structure legislation on the table and regulatory frameworks being written in real time, sitting on the sidelines is itself a political choice,” he said. “The choices we make now will shape the regulatory environment for a generation, which isn’t something we can afford to leave to chance.”

For Anchorage, the change in administration led to the lifting of its 2022 OCC consent order over compliance issues, which the company says were tied to the Biden administration’s tough stance on digital assets. The passage of the GENIUS Act also solidified its stablecoin business, creating new revenue streams in issuance, reserve custody and compliance services, and positioning Anchorage as a regulated backend for stablecoins.

The firm’s entry into campaign finance comes as the crypto industry ramps up its midterm effort. Last week, Stand With Crypto rolled out its 2026 campaign roadmap with early endorsements and a targeted strategy to mobilize pro-crypto voters. Fairshake said it has more than $193 million on hand to support pro-crypto candidates and oppose anti-crypto ones, backed by contributors including Ripple, Coinbase and a16z.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

House and Senate are out on Easter break.

10:30 a.m.: Fed Chair Jerome Powell takes part in a moderated discussion at Harvard University.

Tuesday

FTX Recovery Trust will distribute about $2.2 billion to creditors in its fourth payout under the exchange’s Chapter 11 plan.

9:00 a.m.: Chainalysis holds its annual two-day Links conference in New York City.

10:00 a.m.: The Conference Board publishes consumer confidence data.

3:00 p.m.: Fed Governor Michael Barr discusses stablecoins and the GENIUS Act with the Federalist Society.

Wednesday

8:30 a.m.: The Commerce Department releases delayed retail sales data for February.

Friday

8:30 a.m.: Jobs Friday: We get the latest non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• David Sacks’ time as White House Crypto and AI Czar has come to an end as he steps into a new position as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

• The Senate Banking Committee is set to hold Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh’s confirmation hearing as early as the week of April 13, according to Punchbowl.

• Reps. Max Miller (R-OH) and Steven Horsford (D-NV) unveiled a bipartisan bill, the PARITY Act, a revised tax package for digital assets that notably includes a de minimis tax exemption for stablecoins but not other digital assets.

• NYSE parent ICE invested another $600 million in Polymarket, bringing its total investment in the platform to $1.6 billion.

• Tether has hired KPMG and PwC, two of the Big Four accounting firms, to conduct the first-ever audit of its USDT reserves, according to the Financial Times.

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What you’ll read: Crypto leaders are divided over the new stablecoin yield deal; the House holds a hearing on tokenization; and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins joins the podcast. Plus, the week’s top stories.

Crypto policy leaders are split over new legislative text that would ban companies from paying their customers yield on passive stablecoin balances, but allow activity-based rewards.

An industry conference call on Tuesday descended into a “yelling match” between representatives from crypto exchanges, fintech and venture capital firms over the text, with some calling it unworkable and others defending it, two sources familiar with the proceedings told Crypto In America.

Meanwhile, crypto’s real-time sentiment gauge, “crypto Twitter,” was alight with criticism that Senate lawmakers had sold out to banks, and that industry adoption could take a major hit as a result. Illustrating the point, Circle’s stock fell 20%, with analysts tying the drop in part to backlash over the proposed yield ban, alongside news that rival Tether had hired a major U.S. accounting firm to audit its reserves. Coinbase shares closed down around 10% Tuesday.

The panic was largely sparked by new details that emerged after a small group of industry leaders were invited to Capitol Hill Monday to review the text. The draft legislation was the product of nearly two months of negotiations between the White House, Senate Banking Committee members, and industry and bank stakeholders over how crypto companies could offer yield and rewards to customers on their stablecoin holdings without triggering deposit flight from banks.

According to attendees interviewed by Crypto In America, the Monday meetings were held in 30-minute increments, and participants were given copies of the text to review and take notes, but not to keep.

On its face, the proposal would ban platforms from offering yield “directly or indirectly” on stablecoins. The law would apply broadly to digital asset firms, and bar anything “economically or functionally equivalent” to interest. Activity-based rewards like loyalty or promotional programs would still be permitted, and regulators would be tasked with defining permissible incentives and anti-evasion rules within a year.

Reactions began trickling out Monday evening, with one major trade association telling Crypto In America the new language was restrictive for crypto, and marked a departure from what had been discussed with the White House in prior meetings. Another trade group leader said that the text appeared “largely in line with expectations,” and that it struck a balance between preserving rewards and barring interest-like stablecoin products.

“This is the best possible result,” they said, noting the text appeared broader than the original proposal floated by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD). “People will still get their rewards.”

Banking industry representatives traveled to Capitol Hill to review the text Tuesday afternoon, and one attendee told Crypto In America that while reactions are still forming, the language appears “reflective of the compromise that Tillis, Alsobrooks, and the White House set out to achieve.”

While the Senate Banking Committee has only shared the text with a select few, two industry sources expect it could be released widely as soon as Wednesday.

House Holds Hearing on Tokenization

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing at 10:00 a.m. called Tokenization and the Future of Securities: Modernizing Our Capital Markets, examining how tokenization is being used in capital markets, and whether current securities laws are sufficient.

The hearing is set to explore regulatory gaps, risks to investors, and how tokenization could impact market structure and capital formation. It will also consider draft legislation directing the SEC and CFTC to study tokenized markets, and clarifying how existing market participants can use blockchain technology.

Witnesses include:

• Kenneth Bentsen Jr., president and CEO, SIFMA

• Summer Mersinger, CEO, Blockchain Association

• Christian Sabella, managing director and deputy general counsel, DTCC

• John Zecca, EVP and global chief legal, risk and regulatory officer, Nasdaq

• Salman Banaei, general counsel, Plume Network

Crypto In America Turns One with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins

This week on Crypto In America, we marked our one-year anniversary with a conversation with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins.

From shifting sentiment in Washington to the push toward on-chain markets, the conversation with Atkins broke down how far crypto has come over the past year, and what’s next.

Chairman Atkins discussed the SEC’s move away from regulation by enforcement, the agency’s new token taxonomy, and why not all crypto assets are securities — including his view that investment contracts can have a shelf life.

We also covered the potential for tokenization and on-chain settlement to modernize markets, his relationship with former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, and what’s keeping him up at night (hint: it’s not just markets, and it’s not Netflix either)!

Watch this episode on all platforms here.

We also want to extend a big THANK YOU to our readers, listeners and sponsors for your support in our first year. With over 3.5 million views across platforms, Crypto In America wouldn’t be what it is today without you. We’re excited to keep growing, and we’ll have more to share soon!

— Eleanor, Jacquelyn and Gerald

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Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• The CFTC is launching an Innovation Task Force that would set clearer rules for crypto, AI, and emerging technologies in the U.S. derivatives markets.

• Tether has hired one of the “Big Four” accounting firms to conduct its first full independent audit of USDT reserves, but did not name the firm.

• Circle stock fell 20% on Tuesday following Tether’s audit news and concerns over the latest Clarity Act draft. Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest bought $16M in CRCL shares.

• NYSE is partnering with tokenization platform Securitize to build its tokenized securities platform. The exchange named Securitize as its first digital transfer agent eligible to mint blockchain-native securities for corporate and ETF issuers.

• In his annual shareholder letter, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said tokenization could help accelerate the future by updating the plumbing of the financial system, making investments easier to issue, trade, and access.

• Delaware lawmakers introduced two bills to bring digital assets under state oversight: Creating a licensing regime for stablecoin issuers, and allowing state-chartered banks to custody and manage digital assets in a fiduciary capacity.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

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What you’ll read: Industry stakeholders are set to review long-awaited deal language from the Senate Banking Committee and the White House on stablecoin yield and rewards; plus, Crypto In America joins Rumble; what to watch this week; and a look back at the weekend’s top stories.

Representatives from the crypto and banking industries will be heading to Capitol Hill this week to review the product of a long awaited compromise over whether crypto firms should be allowed to pay customers yield and rewards on their stablecoin holdings.

The White House is said to have reached a compromise with Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), who have led nearly two months of discussions tied to the Senate’s crypto market structure legislation, the Clarity Act, and echoed banks’ concerns that stablecoin yield on deposits could drive deposit flight and strain lending.

But it’s unclear how the industry will respond to the new legislative text, which has been kept tightly under wraps so far.

Representatives from crypto trade associations are scheduled to meet with the Senate Banking Committee later today, and banking representatives will meet to review the text on Tuesday, industry sources familiar with the proceedings told Crypto In America.

“So far I don’t think anyone has a great sense of what is in it,” said one banking source.

The text is almost guaranteed to include one feature: a ban on yield on idle balances, which banks have opposed from the start.

Last week at the DC Blockchain Summit, one of the Clarity Act’s key negotiators, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), hinted that crypto platforms could be barred from offering rewards framed as deposit yield or tied to the amount of assets a user holds.

“Anything that sounds like banking product terminology will not appear,” she said.

While the reaction from both sides remains to be seen, there may be little time for renegotiation if the Senate Banking Committee targets an April markup following the Easter recess, set to begin Friday but subject to change amid debates over government funding and the voter ID-focused SAVE America Act.

Plus, other areas of the bill, including DeFi, token classification, and tokenization, still need final touches before Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) can schedule a markup.

Meanwhile, a new study from the White House Council of Economic Advisers examining stablecoin yield and its potential impact on deposit flight and bank lending could be released soon, as Banking Committee members continue to press for its publication. Crypto In America first reported the existence of the study last week, following a Senate Republican meeting on market structure where Tillis and others pushed White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt to make it public.

The study is said to include economic analysis that leans positive for crypto in the debate over deposit flight.

Crypto In America is now on Rumble!

To mark the new partnership, we sat down with Rumble’s founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski at the 2026 DC Blockchain Summit to break down Tether’s $775M investment in Rumble, the launch of Rumble Wallet, and why crypto and payments are core to the platform’s future.

Plus, we dove deep into free speech, censorship fights, and the media’s shift toward podcasts and live streaming.

Watch this episode on Rumble and all other platforms here.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Tuesday

6:30 p.m.: Fed Governor Michael Barr speaks on the economic outlook and community development in Phoenix, Arizona.

GameStop (GME), which holds over 4,700 BTC, reports earnings after the closing bell.

Wednesday

8:30 a.m.: Blockworks kicks off its Digital Assets Summit in New York City, and will see speakers including Fed Governor Stephen Miran, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, and Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould.

10:00 a.m.: The House Financial Services Committee holds a hearing on tokenization.

Thursday

10:00 a.m.: The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets is holding a hearing examining the pace of innovation and how regulators are adapting.

BitGo (BTGO) reports earnings after the closing bell.

Friday

10:00 a.m.: We get a read on the consumer from the University of Michigan’s March consumer sentiment survey.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Two senators central to the stablecoin yield and rewards discussions reached an agreement in-principle with the White House on legislative text, according to Politico.

• A Nevada judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking prediction market Kalshi from operating in the state for 14 days amid an ongoing dispute over sports betting.

• CFTC staff issued FAQs on crypto and blockchain activity for registered firms, covering tokenized collateral and digital assets as margin — signaling alignment with the SEC on haircut treatment.

• Gold is now in bear market territory, down around 20% from its record high. The safe-haven asset dropped 11% this past week, its biggest weekly loss since 1983, as Middle East tensions prompt a rethink on interest rate cuts, pushing yields higher and weighing on prices.

• Bitcoin is back above $70,000 after falling below $69,000 over the weekend on escalating Middle East tensions. The Monday morning surge in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies comes after President Trump said attacks against Iran's infrastructure will be postponed for five days.

• Grayscale filed with the SEC to launch a Hyperliquid (HYPE) ETF, tracking one of the largest perpetuals DEXs.

• Crypto exchange Gemini is facing a class-action lawsuit from shareholders who allege it misled investors ahead of its IPO by overstating its business and growth prospects before pivoting from crypto to prediction markets.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

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What you’ll read: Senate Banking Chair teases a yield deal; the SEC and CFTC drop some serious clarity; plus Uniswap’s head of policy joins the podcast.

After a month and a half of negotiations to bring crypto firms and banks – and two Senators – to a workable position on whether stablecoin holders can earn yield or rewards, a compromise may finally be in the offing.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) said on Tuesday at the DC Blockchain Summit that he expects to have “the first proposal” on stablecoin yield in hand by the end of the week. He credited Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), along with White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt for the progress.

In a private, member-only session earlier that morning, White House Crypto Council’s Harry Jung said progress had been made, teasing that he’d “leave the hook” for Witt’s appearance the following day, and urging attendees to show up to hear more.

If a compromise has indeed been reached, what’s next? As Crypto In America has been reporting, the yield issue, while certainly the highest profile, is not the only issue to solve before Chairman Scott can reschedule the postponed January markup.

Title III, aka the DeFi section, is being ironed out behind the scenes amongst a handful of crypto industry stakeholders and Senate Democrats, and is also said to be close to a form both sides will be content with.

“I think we’re making real progress,” Brian Nistler, Uniswap’s head of policy who has been involved in some of those discussions, told Crypto in America. “A year ago, we weren’t having the same level of detailed conversations we’re having today.”

Scott also signaled progress on DeFi, along with movement on ethics and quorum, and said Democratic concerns were being addressed by adding minority party representation at the SEC and CFTC.

“We know that that’s a big issue for our friends on the other side of the aisle, so we’re fixing that as well. I think we’re moving forward with some [nominations], which is great news that we were able to get some out of the other side,” he said.

Token classification in Title I is another area that stakeholders, particularly exchanges, have been focused on behind the scenes. Banking Committee leadership is now eyeing April for a potential markup — the first two weeks are already off the table due to the Easter recess, which leaves three possible weeks left on the calendar.

A meeting of Republican Senate Banking members is set to take place this Thursday to discuss the path forward on market structure, according to three people familiar with the plans.

SEC Chair: “We’re not the ‘securities and everything’ commission anymore”

While the crypto market waits on lawmakers to pass the Clarity Act, its two top regulators have joined forces to deliver some long-awaited clarity of their own.

In a 68-page interpretation of how existing securities laws apply to crypto, the agencies formally laid out a token taxonomy for classifying digital assets, and addressed how on-chain activities like staking, mining, airdrops and wrapping are treated under existing law. The move was welcomed warmly by industry participants who have long called for clearer rules of the road after years of navigating regulation by enforcement.

“2023 me couldn’t have imagined that 2126 me would see such a thing, let alone 2026 me,” said Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, who spent two years battling the Biden-era SEC over allegations the company was listing unregistered securities.

At the core of the framework is the view that most crypto assets are not securities, and that tokens can be part of an investment contract at one point in time, but those investment contracts can “end” — a sharp break from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s stance.

“The interpretation clarifies that only one crypto asset class remains subject to the securities laws: digital securities, namely traditional securities that are tokenized,” Atkins said. “We’re not the ‘securities and everything’ commission anymore.”

The token taxonomy itself, which divides crypto assets into five categories — digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities — isn’t new. It’s something Atkins first laid out last August when he introduced the SEC’s Project Crypto, an initiative recently relaunched in partnership with the CFTC.

This time, though, the agencies have gone a step further, naming sixteen tokens as digital commodities, shifting them out of SEC territory and into the CFTC’s. The list includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP, Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), Chainlink (LINK), Dogecoin (DOGE), and eight others.

The news marks a major vindication for XRP holders. After a nearly five-year legal battle between the SEC and Ripple (one of the token’s primary distributors) over allegations of unregistered securities sales that sent XRP’s price tumbling and led to its removal from major exchanges, the regulator is now saying the token is not a security.

“We always knew XRP wasn’t a security - and now the SEC has made clear what it is: a digital commodity. Grateful to the Crypto Task Force for working to deliver the clarity that markets, investors, and innovators have long deserved,” said Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty.

Atkins also signaled the SEC is exploring tailored exemptions to make it easier for crypto projects to raise capital, alongside a model in which tokens can transition out of securities status as networks mature. He also floated greater flexibility for where those assets can trade, including outside traditional SEC-regulated venues like state-regulated or CFTC platforms.

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Live from DC with Uniswap’s Head of Policy

This week on the podcast, we sat down with Brian Nistler, head of policy at Uniswap Labs, for a live on-stage episode at ETHDC. The conversation broke down where things stand on the Clarity Act, including Title III and the Blockchain Regulatory Clarity Act (BRCA), and why developer protections remain one of the most important issues for crypto in Washington.

Nistler explained why those conversations have evolved significantly over the past year and what’s driving cautious optimism that a deal can get done.

We also dove into Uniswap’s evolution and the broader state of DAOs, including governance risks, delegation, and how to think about trust in DeFi systems. Plus, Nistler spoke on the DOJ’s push for a retrial in the Roman Storm case and what signal that sends to builders, and why BlackRock’s partnership with Uniswap is a notable moment for institutional adoption.

Watch this episode on all platforms here.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

Subscribe now

What you’ll read: Industry, lawmakers and regulators gather in the capital for a big crypto conference week; the Custodia Bank case could be ripe for a Supreme Court look; some weekend headlines, and what to watch this week.

As House and Senate Republicans gear up to fight over voter ID and housing legislation, crypto — itself a recurring flashpoint on Capitol Hill — may prove a welcome respite for the dozens of lawmakers attending the Digital Chamber’s DC Blockchain Summit this week.

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC), set to kick off the event on Tuesday in a fireside chat, is expected to be asked the crucial question: When will his committee hold the next markup?

While Scott may be obliged to give a ballpark estimate, a markup cannot be put on the calendar until all the pieces of the bill are ironed out, including the headline issue of stablecoin yield. Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone believes negotiations between the crypto industry and banks are nearing a conclusion: ban yield on idle balances, and allowing transaction-based rewards.

“They’re getting closer and closer to a deal, so I feel very confident we can reach a resolution in the next week,” Carbone told Crypto In America on Friday.

But guessing games are dangerous on Capitol Hill, and this deal has a lot of cooks in the kitchen.

Aside from the industry stakeholders involved in the negotiations, Senators. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) have come up as key players. Both have been sympathetic to banks’ concerns over the potential for deposit flight if crypto firms are allowed to offer high-yield alternatives to traditional savings accounts.

Some in the industry describe the senators as the gatekeepers — once they are satisfied with the legislative language from both sides, the issue can (in theory) be put to bed and the remaining quibbles over DeFi and token classification can be wrapped up.

Last week, a spokesperson for Tillis told Crypto In America that the senator is continuing to engage with stakeholders to work toward a compromise.

While Tillis will not be present at the summit this week, Alsobrooks is expected to address the latest efforts to resolve the yield debate in her speech on Wednesday.

Custodia May Appeal to the Supreme Court After 10th Circuit Loss

The 10th Circuit of Appeals on Friday rejected Custodia Bank’s request for a full court rehearing in its fight to obtain a Federal Reserve master account, effectively exhausting the Wyoming crypto bank’s options in the lower courts.

The move follows an October split ruling (2-1) from a three-judge panel that found the Fed’s reserve banks have legal discretion to deny master accounts. The panel sided with a Wyoming district judge, who concluded the Federal Reserve was not required to grant Custodia access even though it qualified as an eligible depository institution.

Friday’s decision, by ten active judges who voted 7–3 against rehearing the case, is notable for two reasons.

First, two of the judges who voted against Custodia — Obama appointees Robert Bacharach and Nancy Moritz — appeared to depart from their own reasoning in the 2017 cannabis banking case, Fourth Corner Credit Union v. Federal Reserve. In that case, Bacharach wrote that federal law “unambiguously entitles” eligible depository institutions to a Federal Reserve master account, and he cited statutory language, legislative history, and prior interpretations by the Fed itself. Moritz wrote that without a master account, a bank is essentially just “a vault.”

Second, the decision leaves the door open for a last legal path: an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It’s no guarantee the Supreme Court would agree to hear the case — it takes only about 1% of petitions filed each year. But there are some reasons Custodia could be optimistic.

The last time a case involving the Federal Reserve as a defendant reached the high court was in 2024, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear Corner Post v. Federal Reserve after the plaintiff lost in both district court and unanimously (3-0) at the Eighth Circuit. The procedural path was not unlike Custodia’s.

Unlike Corner Post, though, Custodia has three dissenting judges on its side. In a written dissent, Judges Timothy Tymkovich and Allison Eid warned the ruling gives Reserve Banks “unreviewable discretion” to deny accounts to state-chartered banks in direct contravention of the Monetary Control Act of 1980, which expanded Fed access to non-member depository institutions. Judge Harris Hartz also voted in favor of Custodia’s petition to have the case be reheard.

According to one Supreme Court lawyer, the fact that three judges agreed with Custodia on this premise gives the case a higher-than-average chance of being heard by the Supreme Court.

Custodia did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The House and Senate are back, kicking off a big week for crypto in Washington as DC Blockchain Week gets underway.

1:00 p.m.: ETHDC, hosted by DCDAO, kicks off at Pubkey, bringing together builders, VCs and DeFi/TradFi policy wonks. Crypto In America will record a live episode with Brian Nistler, head of policy and general counsel at Uniswap Labs.

4:00 p.m.: Senators Steve Daines (R-MT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Congressman Mike Carey (R-OH) will host a joint roundtable on crypto tax.

Tuesday

10:40 a.m.: Day 1 of the DC Blockchain Summit, hosted by the Digital Chamber, opens with a fireside chat with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC). Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould follows (11:10 a.m.), along with a panel featuring House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson (R-PA) and Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) (2:55 p.m.). The day wraps with keynote speeches from CFTC Chairman Michael Selig (3:50 p.m.) and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins (4:00 p.m.).

Wednesday

Bitcoin miner BitFarms (BitF) reports earnings before the opening bell.

8:30 a.m.: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the February Producer Price Index (PPI), a key measure of inflation.

9:05 a.m.: Day 2 of the DC Blockchain Summit begins with FDIC Chair Travis Hill in a fireside chat, followed by a discussion with Binance founder CZ on his new book, “Freedom of Money” (9:25 a.m.). Later in the day, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce (1:55 p.m.) and White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt (2:55 p.m.) are set to speak.

Several members of Congress are also slated to appear, including Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Katie Britt (R-AL), Steve Daines (R-MT), and John Husted (R-OH). Representatives Tom Emmer (R-MN), Bryan Steil (R-WI), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Max Miller (R-OH), and Steven Horsford (D-NV) will also attend.

Crypto In America will record a live episode with Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski at 12:40 p.m. We’ll also make a special on-stage announcement, so remember to tune in!

2:00 p.m.: The Federal Reserve announces its next interest rate decision, and Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak to the press at 2:30 p.m.

Thursday

10:00 a.m.: The Federal Reserve holds an open board meeting on potential changes to bank capital requirements. The FDIC is meeting on the same topic at the same time.

Crypto exchange Gemini reports earnings after the closing bell.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Bitcoin is on track to have its best week since September, rising about 8.5% and trading above $71,000.

• Crypto trading firm BlockFills has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware after suspending withdrawals and racking up roughly $75 million in losses. The firm is also facing a lawsuit alleging it misused customer funds.

• The Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, voting 89-10. The Act includes a provision that would ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a retail CBDC until 2031.

• The website associated with President Trump’s memecoin ($TRUMP) announced an exclusive conference and gala luncheon at the White House next month for the token’s top 297 holders, sending its price up 50% in 24 hours. The token is now trading around $3.85.

• A federal judge blocked the DOJ’s criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, citing political motivations and a lack of evidence. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro says the DOJ plans to appeal, which could affect the timeline for confirmation of Kevin Warsh as Powell’s replacement.

• United States fourth-quarter gross domestic product slowed to +0.7 percent annualized, below the +1.4 percent estimate.

• Organizers of the TOKEN2049 crypto conference in Dubai say the event will be postponed until 2027 due to ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East.

• BlackRock debuted a staked Ether ETF (ETHB), offering ETH exposure and staking rewards.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

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What you’ll read: Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) delivers a dose of realism on the stablecoin yield debate; the SEC drops more details on its CFTC harmonization plans; this week’s top stories; and Bridge co-founder Zach Abrams joins the podcast.

Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) had a message of pragmatism for a room full of community bankers Tuesday morning at the American Bankers Association Summit in Washington, D.C.: You can’t always get what you want.

“I think I have to level set that all of us will probably walk away just a little bit unhappy,” she told ABA Chief Policy Officer Naomi Camper, referring to the dispute between the banking and crypto industries over whether crypto firms should be allowed to offer rewards on stablecoin holdings.

“It is not letting perfect be the enemy of good […] we’re going to probably have to make some compromises,” she said.

Alsobrooks’ comments come as the standoff remains the elephant in the room holding up the Clarity Act, the Senate’s crypto market structure bill.

Following a month of negotiations brokered by the White House between representatives from the crypto industry and banks, the process has shifted back to Capitol Hill. Alsobrooks and Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) met crypto and banking stakeholders in recent days to provide feedback on legislative text that emerged from those talks.

“The compromise that myself and Senator Tillis have been working on is one we believe will help us have the guardrails in place that will help us to prevent deposit flight […] and allow innovation to grow at the same time,” Alsobrooks told Camper.

She went on to say that passing the Clarity Act would be preferable to maintaining the status quo: the GENIUS Act as it currently stands allows crypto exchanges to continue offering yield and rewards unrestricted.

Camper emphasized that community banks are particularly concerned about the “dangers of deposit flight,” whereby customers move money out of traditional bank accounts and into higher-yielding stablecoin products offered by crypto firms. While banks argue this is the biggest risk of allowing yield and rewards, crypto advocates say the concern is overblown and reflects banks’ fear of new competition.

White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt took to X on Wednesday to point out that crypto companies, which until recently were largely unregulated, have been offering yield and rewards to customers for years, seemingly without major complaints of deposit flight.

“Where is the deposit flight? Is it in the room with us right now?” he quipped.

Witt’s comment suggests negotiators may be starting to chafe at the process, which has dragged on for the better part of nine months. While discussions to resolve the remaining issues in the bill are ongoing, it’s unclear when a compromise will be reached that would allow the Senate Banking Committee to reschedule a markup.

“We are continuing our dialogue with stakeholders on both sides to work toward a compromise,” a press rep for Tillis told Crypto In America.

What a final compromise will look like is also uncertain, but Alsobrooks’ remarks suggest some kind of activity-based rewards may be considered, and any kind of yield on idle balances would be a non-starter.

“We agree, in some occasions on activity that we should be allowed to pay interest in yield — that cryptocurrencies can — but it would be really important that we do not allow the payment on a stable balance that would cause deposit flight,” Alsobrooks said to a hearty round of applause from the bankers in the room.

SEC Reveals New Details on CFTC Harmonization

The roadmap for closer regulatory coordination between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is beginning to take shape.

Speaking at the flagship futures industry conference in Boca Raton, Florida, SEC Chair Paul Atkins outlined new steps the sister agencies are taking to better coordinate oversight of derivatives and cryptocurrency markets.

Atkins said the “regrettable era of duplicative enforcement actions” between the regulators should come to an end, arguing that the agencies should align their legal theories and remedies when pursuing cases involving the same conduct.

He also raised the concept of “substituted compliance,” under which satisfying the regulatory framework of one agency could meet overlapping requirements of the other if the two regimes produce comparable outcomes. The approach, he said, could help reduce regulatory duplication for firms registered with both agencies.

As part of the effort, Atkins said the SEC plans to launch a new SEC-CFTC harmonization webpage where companies can request coordinated discussions with staff from both regulators when seeking guidance or launching new products. The agencies are also planning to hold joint meetings on new and pending product applications in an effort to speed up the approval process.

Atkins also called for greater cross-agency clarity on prediction market event contracts, including whether certain products could qualify as security-based swaps or other securities.

In addition, he highlighted cross-margining as a potential way to unlock liquidity currently tied up in separate derivatives accounts, allowing firms to use the same collateral across related trading platforms.

Atkins emphasized, however, that closer coordination does not mean the agencies are merging, despite much speculation in the media on the subject.

“The SEC and the CFTC operate under distinct statutes entrusted to us by Congress, and we must administer those mandates faithfully,” he said. “But fulfilling our responsibility does not require fragmentation; in fact, it calls for coordination.”

A recent Bloomberg report said the two regulators are considering moving under one roof, with discussions underway for the CFTC to potentially relocate to the SEC’s headquarters next to Union Station in Washington, D.C., a move that could help streamline coordination.

A source inside the CFTC confirmed to Crypto In America that the agency is evaluating several potential locations but acknowledged that the SEC building is “probably top of the list.” The source stressed that no decision has been made and that multiple parties beyond the two regulators are involved in the discussions.

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Inside Stripe’s $1B Stablecoin Bet with Bridge Co-Founder Zach Abrams

This week on the Crypto In America podcast, the team sits down with Zach Abrams, co-founder of Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure platform acquired by fintech giant Stripe in 2025.

In this conversation, Abrams walks us through his journey across various roles in fintech and crypto before co-founding Bridge and scaling the company fourfold last year amid the boom in stablecoins. The discussion also explores the broader evolution of stablecoin payments, Bridge’s partnership with Visa, the company’s pursuit of an OCC bank charter, and what the next phase of global payment infrastructure could look like.

Watch this episode on all platforms here.

Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• Binance has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal in the Southern District of New York. The exchange is seeking damages and legal fees and is demanding a jury trial.

• The lawsuit comes on the same morning the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice is allegedly investigating claims that Iran used Binance’s platform in order to evade sanctions.

• The DOJ has asked to retry Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm on the two counts of money laundering and sanctions violations that a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on in the original trial. Prosecutors proposed an early October retrial date.

• U.S. inflation remains at 2.4%, in line with expectations.

• Mastercard is launching a Crypto Partner Program with 85 companies including Circle, Paxos, Ripple, PayPal, Gemini and Binance to develop cross-border transfers, B2B payments and global payouts.

• Wells Fargo filed a trademark application for “WFUSD,” covering a wide range of cryptocurrency trading, payments and tokenization services, and sparking speculation the bank may be planning to launch its own stablecoin.

• Goldman Sachs is now the largest buyer of XRP ETFs with $153.8M in holdings.

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What you’ll read: On the issue of stablecoin yield, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) holds all the cards; GOP lawmakers insist on a permanent CBDC ban; plus, what we’re watching this week.

The stablecoin yield debate that has held up the Clarity Act for nearly two months has a new moderator: Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who has been sympathetic to the banks’ argument that giving too many concessions to the crypto industry on rewards could trigger deposit flight.

Tillis last week met industry and White House officials several times, and has reviewed legislative text from the past month of negotiations between the crypto industry and the banks. Industry sources say the talks are “moving in the right direction,” but are not quite there yet.

“Sen. Tillis has been very receptive to our discussions about stablecoin yield,” Cody Carbone, CEO of Digital Chamber, told Crypto In America. ”I am optimistic we will find a way to get to a ‘yes’ vote on the bill, and we appreciate his work to try to advance market structure rules of the road.”

But Tillis is unconvinced by some of the arguments he’s been hearing and is considering “holding court” with representatives from Coinbase and banking trade groups together in his office to hear them out personally, according to an industry source who requested anonymity.

“He wants to have each make their case before deciding,” the source said, noting that the extra time this could take might turn the White House off the idea, leaving it unclear whether the meeting will happen.

You might ask: Why so much deference to Tillis on this issue?

Tillis was shaping up to be a holdout in January when the Senate Banking Committee was preparing for a markup. Coinbase even cited amendments from Tillis and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), which limited the scope of stablecoin rewards, as one reason it withdrew support for the bill, prompting the Banking Committee to pull the markup.

Even if no Democrats vote to advance the Clarity Act during the next markup, it could still pass along party lines. But Tillis’ vote will be crucial if there’s no Democratic buy-in.

Press representatives for Tillis did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, other stakeholders focused on different parts of the legislation say the yield issue has “taken a lot of oxygen out of the room,” and left sticking points, mostly around DeFi, largely unresolved. Senate Democrats are now scrambling to address these remaining issues, per a DeFi leader involved in negotiations, and concerns around ethics and conflicts of interests over government officials and their family members owning crypto are also expected to remain top of mind for some Democratic members.

Trade groups are starting to consider alternatives if the Senate markup slips further into the year, but remain “cautiously optimistic” that progress over the next three weeks on yield, rewards, and other issues will allow the Banking Committee to reschedule a markup in late March, one crypto trade executive said.

GOP Lawmakers Rally Behind CBDC Ban

A ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to the general public has shown up in the Senate’s 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.

The problem: The ban comes with a 2030 sunset clause, meaning it expires after four and a half years. Many Republicans and crypto advocates, who fear a CBDC could mark the start of government financial surveillance, are up in arms and wondering whether the provision could open the door for the Fed to explore a CBDC in 2031.

The temporary ban is being criticized as a “watered-down version” of Rep. Tom Emmer’s Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which passed the House last year and established a permanent ban on a so-called “retail CBDC.” The bill was originally slated to be attached to last year’s defense bill, but was eventually removed.

Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a staunch critic of CBDCs who introduced the Senate version of the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act last year, filed an amendment to strike the sunset on the ban. Cruz plans to push for a vote on the amendment when the Senate holds a series of votes on the housing legislation this week, sources close to him told Crypto In America.

Meanwhile, a coalition of 32 Republican House members is weighing in on the CBDC provision before the legislation returns to the lower chamber. In a letter to House Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) led the group in “expressing the dire need to prohibit a Central Bank Digital Currency from ever happening in the United States.”

“A prohibition of a Central Bank Digital Currency must be permanent,” the letter reads. “Otherwise, we will do everything we can to ensure the 21 Century ROAD to Housing Act is dead-on arrival.”

The letter goes on to describe a CBDC as exposing Americans to “unconstitutional financial surveillance” and giving “the unelected Federal Reserve unprecedented power over Americans’ finances that would violate their civil liberties and financial freedom.”

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), a signatory of the letter, took to X on Friday, warning that the battle over CBDCs could get ugly.

“This will probably get nasty so I am telling everyone now. We would appreciate your [sic] support on this.”

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The House is out this week. The Senate is in session.

3:45 p.m.: Day 1 of the annual FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference, aka the “Boca” conference, kicks off in Boca Raton, Florida, with a keynote from CFTC Chairman Michael Selig.

Tuesday

8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the February reading of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key measure of inflation.

10:30 a.m.: Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) speaks at the American Bankers Association Summit in Washington, D.C.

1:30 p.m.: SEC Chairman Paul Atkins gives a keynote speech at the Boca conference.

Wednesday

Crypto wallet Exodus Movement (EXOD) reports earnings before the opening bell.

8:30 a.m.: Prudential regulators including Michelle Bowman (Fed vice chair for supervision), Travis Hill (FDIC chair) and Jonathan Gould (U.S. comptroller of the currency) speak at Day 2 of the American Bankers Association Summit.

10:15 a.m.: Crypto and TradFi exchange CEOs take part in a panel on the final day of the Boca conference, featuring Craig Donohue (CBOE), Jeff Sprecher (ICE), Kris Marszalek (Crypto.com), Arjun Sethi (Kraken), and Haider Rafique, global managing partner at OKX.

Thursday

Bitcoin miner Cango (CANG) reports earnings after the closing bell.

Friday

Ethereum treasury and staking company Bit Digital (BTBT) reports earnings before the opening bell.

8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Department of Commerce releases its first Q4 GDP revision, and January personal consumption spending data.

Weekend News Flash

• Nasdaq is teaming up with Kraken to offer tokenized stocks, following NYSE’s $25B investment in OKX to bring tokenized equities to its crypto users.

• A new Executive Order signed by President Trump targets cybercrime and includes federal support to secure blockchain networks against hacks and quantum threats.

• Kalshi is facing a class action lawsuit from traders who say the prediction market used a “death carveout” to dodge payouts on $54M of bets tied to Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

• A New York federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by 535 victims of 64 terrorist attacks between 2016 and 2024, who claimed Binance helped finance groups behind the attacks, ruling they couldn’t establish a plausible connection.

• A new report from the Treasury Department says: crypto mixers can serve valid privacy purposes; calls for a “hold law” safe harbor letting authorities temporarily hold or freeze suspicious digital assets while investigations proceed; and urges Congress to define which DeFi actors face anti‑money laundering (AML) and counter‑terrorist financing (CFT) obligations.

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What you’ll read: Kraken makes history by securing access to the Federal Reserve; Coinbase CEO visits the White House; this week’s top stories; and SOMA.finance joins the podcast.

Kraken, the U.S.’s second-largest crypto exchange, has pulled off something no other crypto firm has managed to: secured coveted access to the Federal Reserve.

The exchange said on Wednesday that its Wyoming-based banking arm has been approved for a Federal Reserve master account by the Kansas City Fed, marking the first time a crypto-native company has gained direct, albeit limited, access to the Fed’s payments system. The approval comes more than five years after Kraken filed its application with the Kansas City Fed in October 2020.

The account gives Kraken a direct line into the Fed’s payments rails, but not full banking powers. Under the limited-purpose, or “skinny,” master account framework floated by Fed Governor Christopher Waller, the firm can hold reserves and settle in central bank money, but it cannot lend, access the Fed’s discount window, or operate as a traditional commercial bank.

Governor Waller is seeking to finalize his skinny master account proposal by the end of this year. The Kraken approval, sources close to the process tell Crypto In America, is designed as a “pilot” program to trial the skinny master account concept, which is in line with payments-only accounts provided by central banks in the United Kingdom, the European Union and Switzerland.

“This milestone marks the convergence of crypto infrastructure and sovereign financial rails,” said Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi in a blog post. “With a Federal Reserve master account, we can operate not as a peripheral participant in the U.S. banking system, but as a directly connected financial institution.”

The decision marks a historic shift for an industry long shut out of the traditional banking system, and signals a softening of tone at the Fed, which had previously adopted a more hawkish stance towards crypto regulation under the prior administration.

It also implies that the Fed believes Kraken has sufficient anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance practices in place to curb illicit finance risk, and that Wyoming’s regulatory framework for special purpose depository institutions is in line with Federal banking standards.

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) hailed the approval as a milestone for the state’s progressive crypto framework. Lummis dubbed it a “watershed moment” for the industry, and Gordon described it as “good news for our state banks and special purpose depository institutions.”

The move could spark a surge of Fed master account applications from other crypto firms. On the horizon: Wyoming’s Custodia Bank, which has been chasing access nearly as long as Kraken and has been engaged in litigation against the Fed since 2022. Anchorage Digital, an OCC-regulated trust bank, and Ripple, through its trust company Standard Custody & Trust, have also applied for master accounts, much to the chagrin of many traditional banking outfits.

During last month’s comment period, banking trade groups cautioned that skinny master accounts could pose risks to banking system safety because crypto is less tightly regulated.

Trump Backs Crypto in Yield Debate After Coinbase CEO Visits White House

In what some in the industry noted as an interestingly timed post given the U.S.’s ongoing military strikes in Iran, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday evening to publicly back the crypto industry in its fight with banks over stablecoin yield, and urge Congress to pass crypto market structure legislation as soon as possible.

Trump’s post follows more than a month of negotiations held by the White House Crypto Council, aimed at helping the crypto industry and banks reach a compromise on allowing crypto companies to offer stablecoin rewards to customers.

The dispute has stalled the Senate Banking Committee from rescheduling a Clarity Act markup, which was postponed after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted in January that he would withdraw support, saying the bill tilted too heavily in the banks’ favor.

After being rebuffed in his attempts to meet with big bank CEOs like Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan) and Charlie Scharf (Wells Fargo) at the World Economic Forum in January, it appears Armstrong has taken his case directly to the President.

Crypto In America reported Tuesday night that a Coinbase delegation visited the White House on Tuesday afternoon to meet Trump, though we could not confirm whether Armstrong met with him personally. Politico then confirmed that Trump and Armstrong did meet privately.

Coinbase did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Details of the meeting remain unclear, but Trump’s post echoed some of Armstrong’s signature talking points: banks are undermining crypto legislation, and Americans should be able to “earn more money on their money,” — aka earn yield on their savings.

The President’s post hasn’t changed banks’ concerns that vague legislative language could let crypto firms skirt an agreement not to offer yield on idle balances, a banking source involved in the negotiations told Crypto In America.

“We want to continue negotiating, and what we’re trying to do is defend the agreement in-principle of no interest on balances, making sure no holes are punched in that,” the source said, noting they hadn’t heard back from the White House since banks had sent suggestions for legislative text several days earlier.

Trump’s comments follow remarks from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon calling for crypto firms that offer interest on stablecoins to be regulated like banks.

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The First Fully Licensed Platform for Tokenized Securities: SOMA Talks to Crypto In America

This week on the Crypto In America podcast, Jacquelyn and Eleanor sat down with Will Corkin, co-founder and COO of SOMA.Finance.

Corkin walked us through his decade-plus journey in crypto, from early Security Token Offerings (STOs) to co-founding DeFi platform MANTRA. The conversation dove into the lessons Corkin learned from MANTRA’s $5B crash, the creation of SOMA, and the challenges of building a platform that is fully licensed to tokenize and trade a broad range of securities.

Will explained what makes SOMA different: a non-custodial, decentralized platform where retail and institutional investors, both in the U.S. and overseas, can buy and sell securities on-chain, from listed stocks and bonds to private placements.

He also shared a behind-the-scenes look at the license approval process, how SOMA became the first broker-dealer to operate this kind of platform, and why pre-IPO shares could be the next big driver of crypto adoption.

Watch this episode on all platforms here.

Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• CFTC Chairman Michael Selig plans to approve crypto perpetual futures within the next month as well as write rules and issue guidance for prediction markets.

• President Trump urged Congress to pass the Clarity Act, and criticized banks for “threatening and undermining the GENIUS Act.”

• Indiana’s Governor Mike Braun signed a bill into law allowing digital assets to be used in certain state retirement plans.

• Tether tapped U.S. accounting giant Deloitte for its first USAT reserve report, which showed $17.6 million in reserve assets backing 17.5 million tokens.

• The Senate Banking Committee’s 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act includes a provision banning the Federal Reserve from issuing a retail central bank digital currency, though the ban expires in 2030.

• Uniswap won full dismissal of the ‘scam token’ class action lawsuit, with the judge ruling the platform cannot be held liable for third-party token issuers’ misconduct.

• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said stablecoin issuers that pay interest on customer balances should be regulated like banks, and should meet capital, liquidity and deposit insurance requirements.

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What you’ll read: A new month, another shot at passing Clarity through the Senate? What still needs to happen before that. Plus, what to watch this week, and some weekend news you might have missed.

March is upon us, and it could bring long-awaited action on the Clarity Act, including a second attempt at a Senate Banking Committee markup and, if it passes, preparing the bill for a full Senate vote.

The March 1 deadline for banks and crypto to bridge the gap on stablecoin rewards, set by White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt, has passed with no announcement of a compromise.

However, crypto stakeholders insisted that negotiations are ongoing, and expressed confidence that a deal can still be reached, despite a report suggesting that talks were breaking down behind the scenes.

“These are complex negotiations involving multiple stakeholders, and bridging meaningful policy differences takes sustained engagement,” Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger, who’s been active in the discussions, posted on X on Friday.

A banking-side source with direct knowledge of the ongoing meetings also challenged the notion that talks were falling apart, telling Crypto In America that both sides are still providing input on legislative text, and aren’t necessarily bound by the March  1 deadline.

“Overindexing on March 1 is a mistake,” the source said.

But another banking source who spoke with Crypto In America didn’t dispute that crypto and the banks aren’t fully on the same page regarding a deal.

“There’s agreement in-principle that stablecoin balances shouldn’t earn interest, but crypto firms are still trying to backdoor APY on balances through membership programs, rewards, and staking,” the source said. “I think that’s what’s holding up the deal right now.”

The source added that banks want any lending or staking to be “active,” “bona fide,” and “time-locked,” tied only to investment returns, and warned that vague language could let crypto effectively recreate interest under different labels. They say the crypto industry is avoiding specifics to preserve flexibility, while the White House wants to settle the details through agency rulemaking — a solution banks worry won’t fully protect their principles.

However, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency may have strengthened the banks’ position by signaling in last week’s proposed rulemaking for the GENIUS Act that stablecoin rewards could face tighter limits than the crypto industry had anticipated.

It’s unclear how long the yield talks, now in their second month, will take or whether a compromise can be reached, but stakeholders and the White House remain keen to keep negotiations moving.

“What we’ve heard from the senators is that we’re not trying to make either side totally happy, and I think we’re very close to that moment where both sides aren’t very happy — which usually means we’re getting close to a deal,” Andreessen Horowitz’s head of government affairs, Collin McCune, told Crypto In America.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, the Senate Banking Committee is said to be eyeing possible markup dates in mid-to-late March, which would give stakeholders a few more weeks to iron out remaining issues, like DeFi and ethics, before a potential vote.

“I think overall things are moving, and it feels like issues are being closed out, but DeFi has taken a backseat to the yield conversation,” Amanda Tuminelli, executive director of the DeFi Education Fund, told Crypto In America. “We’re waiting for Senate Banking to announce the next markup date and updated text, so I think everyone is anxiously awaiting to see what the next draft looks like.”

A member meeting between Senate Democrats on market structure last week was “positive,” two staff-level attendees said.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Core Scientific (CORZ), the fourth and sixth largest Bitcoin miners by market cap, are expected to release quarterly earnings after the bell. Amid the recent market downturn and pressure on miners, both are expected to report losses.

Tuesday

9:00 a.m.: The Milken Institute hosts its Future of Finance event in Washington, D.C., featuring a handful of panels on crypto and notable speakers like SEC Chair Paul Atkins, CFTC Chair Michael Selig, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-AR), Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), and NEC Director Kevin Hassett.

Wednesday

2:00 p.m.: The Fed publishes its latest Beige Book, a snapshot of economic conditions across its regional districts based on business surveys and local reports.

Friday

8:30 a.m.: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the February jobs report, including the latest unemployment rate.

Weekend News Flash

• Weekend U.S.–Israel strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei triggered extreme volatility, with Bitcoin plunging near ~$63,000 and heavy liquidations before bouncing as high as ~$68,000. The broader crypto market is rallying today, with Bitcoin climbing over $69,000.

• Gold rallied over 2% toward $5,400 an ounce as traders piled into safe‑haven assets amid U.S.–Israel strikes on Iran and heightened geopolitical risk.

• The U.S. government labeled Anthropic AI a supply chain risk, ordering all agencies to stop using its technology. Shortly after, OpenAI announced a deal with the Pentagon.

• Morgan Stanley filed with the OCC for a de novo national trust bank charter in order to custody crypto. The company said it will also use the new entity to conduct trading and facilitate staking for its investment clients.

• Eleven Senate Banking Democrats sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi urging the DOJ and Treasury to investigate Binance over media reports alleging ~$1.7 billion in Iran‑linked transactions and other illicit finance activity, warning the exchange may be violating its 2023 settlement, which required sweeping compliance reforms under U.S. supervision.

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What you’ll read: Stripe sees stablecoin economy booming; White House’s deadline on yield talks nears. Plus, Hester Peirce returns to the podcast a year later, and this week’s top stories.

All’s quiet on the Western front when it comes to stablecoin yield and rewards negotiations between the crypto industry and banks. Behind the scenes, sources on both sides tell Crypto In America that no ‘eureka’ moment has emerged since draft language was shared following last week’s “constructive” meeting, the third time reps from both parties have come together to find common ground. It’s unclear whether a deal will materialize by the White House’s March 1 deadline or if a compromise will prompt an announcement.

With the stablecoin issue winding down, focus will start shifting back to lingering concerns over DeFi and ethics, two points likely to be discussed at a Senate Democratic member meeting on market structure this afternoon.

No Yield? No Problem: Stripe Still Bullish on Stablecoins

We may be in the midst of a crypto winter, but Stripe is calling it a stablecoin summer. In its annual shareholder letter, the payments processor highlighted that stablecoin payments volume doubled to $400 billion in 2025, while Bridge, Stripe’s stablecoin platform — which just received conditional OCC trust-charter approval — saw volume quadruple.

While the global crypto market’s value has almost halved over the past four months, the stablecoin market is booming, now exceeding $314 billion.

Stripe noted that interoperability with traditional finance is accelerating: Bridge partnered with Visa to issue credit and debit cards that let businesses and consumers use stablecoins for making conventional payments — the platform automatically converts them into local currency. Meanwhile, the popular crypto wallet Phantom is integrating Bridge to roll out the cards to its 20 million users, signaling broader adoption of stablecoin-backed payment tools following the signing of the GENIUS Act.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Stripe, now valued at $159 billion, is mulling a potential full or partial acquisition of payments giant PayPal, which has its own stablecoin, PYUSD, and a growing suite of stablecoin payment and wallet services.

Stripe declined to comment on the acquisition rumors.

Hester Peirce Returns to Crypto In America with 2026 Outlook

This week on Crypto In America, we’re diving into our interview with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce from ETHDenver — a full-circle moment, since she was our very first guest on Crypto In America when we launched nearly a year ago.

Peirce reflected on the SEC’s biggest changes last year and shared her outlook for crypto regulation in 2026. She emphasized that durable rules, tokenization experiments, and the impending innovation exemption will shape the year ahead, while keeping regulatory barriers low for new entrants.

The Commissioner also stressed accountability for AI and agentic technologies, the importance of financial privacy as a default, and a level playing field for both crypto-native companies and traditional financial players.

Watch the full episode on all platforms here.

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Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• The SEC appointed Taylor Lindman, former deputy counsel at Chainlink Labs, as chief counsel of its Crypto Task Force, replacing Michael Selig, who left to lead the CFTC.

• MoonPay launched MoonPay Agents, a non-custodial infrastructure layer that enables AI agents to create wallets, fund them, and transact using digital assets without requiring ongoing human input.

• Crypto.com secured conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, joining Ripple, Circle, Paxos, Bridge, and Fidelity.

• WisdomTree secured a key regulatory green light from the SEC, enabling 24/7 trading and instant settlement for its Treasury Money Market Digital Fund (WTGXX).

• Payments processor Stripe has expressed interest in acquiring some or all of PayPal, according to Bloomberg.

• The White House told Fortune that President Trump has no intention of pardoning FTX’s founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, despite the latter’s recent efforts to court the President and the Republican Party on social media.

• Meta is planning to re-enter the stablecoin space in the second half of the year with third-party payment integration and a new wallet, according to CoinDesk.

• Coinbase launched 24/5 commission-free stock trading, letting U.S. users buy fractional shares starting at $1 alongside crypto in a combined portfolio.

• Terraform Labs’ liquidation administrator is suing Jane Street, alleging the Wall Street firm helped accelerate Terra-Luna’s 2022 collapse through insider trading.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

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What you’ll read: The White House’s Crypto Council Executive Director details stablecoin yield talks; the SEC’s green light for broker-dealers holding stablecoins; and what’s on our radar this week.

The White House says it’s getting closer to breaking one of the biggest logjams holding up legislation on crypto market structure: whether crypto firms should be allowed to offer rewards on stablecoins.

Speaking to the Crypto In America team at ETHDenver on Friday, White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt said the gap between the two sides has “shrunk considerably” after last week’s closed-door meeting between crypto and bank representatives.

At the center of the debate is whether crypto firms can offer rewards tied to stablecoin usage. Banks fear such rewards could trigger deposit outflows and create risk for the traditional financial system, while crypto companies argue overly restrictive rules would stifle innovation and give incumbents an unfair edge.

In the room were reps from Coinbase, Ripple, and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, alongside trade groups Blockchain Association and Crypto Council for Innovation. Bank perspectives came via trade associations: the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, and Independent Community Bankers of America.

The White House took a more assertive role than in prior sessions, bringing draft legislative language to bridge the divide, sources at the meeting told Crypto In America. Attendees were required to hand over their phones during the discussion, and went through the draft text line by line. The draft addressed concerns raised in a recent banking framework on stablecoin yield restrictions, and made clear that any limits on rewards would be narrowly scoped.

“We wanted to bring the appropriate level of seriousness and decor (sic) to the meeting,” Witt told Crypto In America when asked about the no-phones rule.

One major takeaway from the discussions: offering yield on idle stablecoin balances, long viewed as a key objective for the crypto industry, is now effectively off the table. Instead, the debate has narrowed to whether crypto firms can offer rewards tied to certain activities, such as transactions or network participation. A banking source said proposed anti-evasion language could let the SEC, Treasury, and CFTC enforce a ban on idle-balance yield, with civil penalties of $500,000 per violation, per day.

Witt said the administration is aiming to resolve the stablecoin rewards dispute by March 1, giving both sides roughly a week. “Provided we continue to have good-faith engagement from both sides on this issue, I fully expect we will meet our deadline,” he said.

The bank lobby is expected to brief its members on the latest discussions, and gauge whether there’s room to compromise. It’s unclear whether a fourth meeting will take place this week.

Once a compromise is reached, the Senate Banking Committee can reschedule its postponed Jan. 15 markup, though Witt stressed that the timing will ultimately be decided by Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC). Much of the other reconciliation between stakeholders is already happening in parallel, meaning the process could move quickly once the draft language is finalized.

“I believe if we solve this, it’s going to start a domino effect here, and I think things could move pretty fast once it’s resolved,” Witt said.

On the issue of ethics, a lingering concern for some Senate Democrats over President Donald Trump’s family crypto dealings, Witt said negotiations are continuing, but noted it is not currently a major obstacle compared to the stablecoin rewards issue.

SEC FAQ Makes Stablecoins Count as Capital for Broker-Dealers

SEC staff of the Division of Trading and Markets made a small addition to a broker-dealer FAQ last week that thrilled the market.

What happened? Firms like Robinhood, Charles Schwab, and JPMorgan can now count most of their stablecoin holdings toward regulatory capital – the financial safety net that keeps a firm running if losses hit.

Specifically, the SEC says these firms only need to take a 2% “haircut” on stablecoins like USDC or USDT. That means 98% of their holdings can now count like cash or money market funds on their balance sheets, instead of being zeroed out completely.

What’s a “haircut”? It’s a mandatory discount regulators apply to an asset to figure out how much of it counts toward capital or lending requirements.

Before this change, holding stablecoins effectively penalized firms, limiting their ability to custody tokenized securities, provide liquidity or facilitate trading. Now, these tokens count as working capital, opening the door to smoother tokenized finance and more crypto business.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said the change “makes it feasible for broker-dealers to engage in a broader range of activities relating to tokenized securities and other crypto assets.”

Important to note: Because this clarification comes from a staff-level FAQ rather than a formal rule, it could be reversed. Formal rulemaking or legislation — like the GENIUS and Clarity Acts — would make it much harder to undo.

“The 2% haircut FAQ, modest or arcane as it may appear, represents something larger: a federal securities regulator actively adapting its existing rules to accommodate stablecoins as functional financial instruments rather than merely tolerating their existence at the margins,” Tonya M. Evans, a digital asset legal expert and Penn State Dickinson Law professor, wrote in a recent Forbes op‑ed.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The House and Senate are back in session.

4:00 p.m.: Senators Steve Daines (R-MT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Congressman Mike Carey (R-OH) will host a joint roundtable on crypto tax.

Tuesday

9:15 a.m.: Fed Governor Christopher Waller will speak on the future of finance and payments at the 2026 Technology-Enabled Disruption Conference in Boston.

10:00 a.m.: The Conference Board will publish its consumer confidence index.

9:00 p.m.: President Donald Trump will deliver his State of the Union address.

Wednesday

Circle Internet Group, Cipher Mining, and Hut 8 will report earnings before the market opens. Nvidia and Core Scientific will report after the bell.

Thursday

10:00 a.m.: The Senate Banking Committee will host an oversight hearing with prudential banking regulators, including Michelle Bowman of the Federal Reserve, Jonathan Gould of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Travis Hill of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Kyle Hauptman of the National Credit Union Administration.

Friday

8:30 a.m.: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish a delayed inflation report with the January producer price index.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

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What you’ll read: The CFTC wants sole control over prediction markets, the White House is considering another stablecoin yield meeting tomorrow, and the week’s top stories.

The CFTC’s new Chairman, Michael Selig, had a message for anyone questioning the agency’s turf on prediction markets: Don’t.

“See you in court,” the Trump appointee said in a video posted on X Tuesday morning, announcing the agency had filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit defending its sole authority to regulate prediction markets.

Specifically, the case (Crypto.com vs. Nevada) centers on whether federal commodities law preempts state gaming (gambling, not video games) regulation. Last year, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the state agency responsible for regulating and enforcing gaming laws, moved to block Crypto.com’s sports event contracts, calling them unlicensed gambling. Crypto.com fired back, claiming its products are federally regulated derivatives overseen by the CFTC, and that Nevada was overstepping its jurisdiction.

A district court judge sided with Nevada, and now the fight is before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The CFTC is weighing in to argue that it, not Nevada, has the final say over prediction markets.

Former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo filed his own amicus brief this month supporting the agency’s claim to exclusive jurisdiction, citing a recent flood of regulatory actions by states like Nevada, New York and Massachusetts, threatening that authority.

“The CFTC will no longer sit idly by while overzealous state governments undermine the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction over these markets by seeking to establish statewide prohibitions on these exciting products,” Selig said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Selig’s comments are a notable departure from his confirmation testimony last year, when he told the Senate Agriculture Committee he would defer to the courts on the legal status of event contracts.

Prediction markets have surged in popularity over the last three years, attracting interest from both consumers and companies. Dozens of major brands have inked deals with Kalshi and Polymarket, while platforms like Coinbase, Gemini, Crypto.com and Robinhood have also sought to offer prediction markets to capitalize on bettors speculating on everything from geopolitics to SuperBowl half-time performances.

On Wednesday, crypto asset manager Bitwise filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to list a suite of prediction market ETFs that would track contracts tied to the 2028 U.S. presidential election and upcoming House and Senate midterms. Assuming SEC approval, the products would launch under “PredictionShares,” a new Bitwise platform focused on providing exposure to prediction markets, allowing investors to wager on election outcomes in a regulated format.

Bitwise’s CIO Matt Hougan told Crypto In America that prediction markets are accelerating in both scale and importance, making client exposure an opportunity the firm couldn’t pass up. Roundhill and GraniteShares have also filed for prediction market ETFs.

But not everyone is thrilled about prediction markets hitting the big leagues, or being regulated by them. In response to Selig’s video statement, Utah Governor Spencer Cox took to X to condemn their growth in his state.

“These prediction markets you are breathlessly defending are gambling — pure and simple,” he wrote. “They are destroying the lives of families and countless Americans, especially young men. They have no place in Utah.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) didn’t hold back either.

“President Trump’s CFTC Chair is trying to strip states of their authority to regulate gambling within their borders and hamstring their ability to protect Americans from getting ripped off,” she said. “The CFTC should focus on ensuring our derivatives markets don’t blow up the economy again, not helping corrupt political insiders cash in.”

White House Mulls Third Crypto-Bank Meeting on Stablecoin Yield

The White House is considering hosting a third meeting on Thursday between crypto and bank representatives, continuing its efforts to spur agreement on stablecoin yield, three sources familiar with the matter tell Crypto In America.

The White House floated a Thursday meeting to invitees yesterday, but whether it will happen remains uncertain. It’s also unclear what the starting points for the meeting will be, or if the Digital Chamber’s Friday proposal, which would let payment stablecoins earn yield through a DeFi liquidity exemption, will serve as one.

While the banks have not formally weighed in on the Digital Chamber’s proposal, a source close to the banking side of the talks said it appears “constructive,” and shows some concessions on idle balances, though yield protections still need more detail.

The source also questioned the Chamber’s influence, since other trade associations, including the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association, have led negotiations so far. Still, they noted there is “productive momentum” despite more work to be done.

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Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• The World Liberty Financial Forum kicks off at Mar-a-Lago today, and will see leaders from crypto, finance, tech, media, and government attending. Speakers include Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, Third Point founder Dan Loeb, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and rapper Nicki Minaj.

• Kraken says it will fund Trump Accounts for all babies born in 2026 in Wyoming, where the exchange is headquartered.

• X’s head of product says the platform will launch “Smart Cashtags” in the coming weeks that will enable users to trade stocks and crypto directly from their timelines.

• CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the agency has filed an amicus brief in the Crypto.com vs. Nevada appeal.

• Bridge, a stablecoin platform owned by Stripe, received conditional approval from the OCC for a national bank trust charter.

• Gemini’s COO, CLO, and CFO have left the company as its operating expenses are projected to hit $530 million, driving adjusted EBITDA losses of around $260 million.

• DeFi exchange Hyperliquid launched a DeFi-focused policy arm, the Hyperliquid Policy Center, that’s being led by crypto lawyer and policy expert Jake Chervinsky. The initiative is backed by a $29M HYPE token donation.

• Wall Street PE firm Apollo Global is moving into DeFi lending through a new deal with Morpho. Under the deal, Apollo or its affiliates may acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens over the next four years, equivalent to 9% of the token’s total supply.

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What you’ll read: Ahead of another potential White House meeting this week, we take a look at where things stand on the stablecoin yield argument. Plus, the CFTC’s who’s who advisory committee, and the SEC Chair takes the hot seat in front of the Senate. And Bo Hines joins the podcast.

Three weeks into February, the clock is ticking toward the White House’s end-of-month deadline for the crypto and banking industries to agree on the stablecoin yield issue — the lynchpin to advancing the Clarity Act. We’re two meetings in, and another is potentially in the works this week, but a deal has yet to be reached.

Last Tuesday, a gathering at the White House between senior policy staff from banks and crypto firms — plus trade group representatives — ended without a deal after the bank reps circulated a one-page document entitled, “Yield and Interest Prohibition Principles,” stating that any yield or rewards tied to stablecoins should be prohibited.

In response, the Digital Chamber, an industry trade association representing over 130 crypto firms and some traditional banks investing in digital assets, published its own version on Friday, proposing principles that would let payment stablecoins generate yield within decentralized finance, or DeFi.

“These principles push to preserve stablecoins as payment instruments, protect DeFi liquidity and dollar dominance, and establish a rigorous, data-driven framework for assessing deposit impact,” the group said.

The banks haven’t formally weighed in on the Chamber’s principles, but a source close to the Senate Banking Committee told Crypto In America the document was “constructive,” cautioning that some of the proposals may be too broad to win banks’ support.

So, what’s next?

Patrick Witt, the White House Crypto Council’s executive director, told Yahoo Finance on Friday that another meeting could take place as soon as this week, but did not indicate which day. Meanwhile, the House and Senate are both out on recess for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

It’s unclear whether a deal between can be reached by the end of the month, but the issue is one of the key hurdles left to clear before the Senate Banking Committee reschedules a committee vote to send the Clarity Act to the full Senate.

CFTC Taps Crypto Big Wigs for Advisory Committee

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig has tapped some of the leading voices in the crypto industry for seats on the agency’s new Innovation Advisory Committee (IAC), which aims to help advise the agency on innovation in financial markets.

CEOs from Coinbase, Ripple, Uniswap, Kraken, Bullish and Grayscale, alongside executives from Wall Street heavyweights like Nasdaq, CME, CBOE and ICE made the 35-member list. Top executives from sports betting firms FanDuel and DraftKings, prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi, and even representatives from trade groups like the Futures Industry Association (FIA) and International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) were also named to the committee.

The group was built off the initial wave of 10 names put together by former Acting Chair Caroline Pham last year before Selig was confirmed.

“By bringing together participants from every corner of the marketplace, the IAC will be a major asset for the Commission as we work to modernize our rules and regulations for the innovations of today and tomorrow,” Selig said.

Paul Atkins Takes the Hot Seat

SEC Chair Paul Atkins faced the Senate Banking Committee last week with a message that was a clear break from his predecessor Gary Gensler: clear rules of the road instead of regulation by enforcement.

Tokenized securities are still securities, and investors have a right to hold their own assets in self-custody, he said, stressing that Congress must pass legislation to future-proof markets and prevent crypto innovators from getting stuck in regulatory gray areas.

On the issue of capital formation, Atkins signaled the SEC is open to updating its accredited investor rules, looking to alternative ways beyond income and net worth to demonstrate sophistication. He also flagged scrutiny on foreign private issuers, audit oversight, and the Consolidated Audit Trail — all areas where transparency, risk management, and cross-agency coordination matter.

Despite pushback from Democrats that the agency under his leadership had significantly scaled back enforcement and weakened investor protections, Atkins argued the SEC is actively monitoring fraud and market abuse — including in crypto — while avoiding overreach beyond its statutory authority. Across the board, he stressed coordination with the CFTC, modernizing rules, and data-driven oversight as key to keeping U.S. markets competitive without stifling innovation.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

Happy Presidents’ Day! The House and Senate are both in recess this week.

ETHDenver kicks off in Denver, Colorado with events running throughout the week. Crypto In America will be on the ground. Wednesday

2:00 p.m. The Fed will offer clues into how it’s thinking about the economy and interest rates when it releases the minutes from its January Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Wednesday

The World Liberty Financial Forum kicks off at Mar-a-Lago and will feature leaders from across crypto, finance, technology, sports, media and government.

Friday

8:30 a.m.: The Commerce Department releases Q4 GDP estimates.

10:00 a.m.: The University of Michigan releases its final consumer sentiment survey for February.

Bo Hines Gives First Interview Since USAT Launch

This week on the podcast, Eleanor and Gerald sat down at the Digital Assets at Duke Conference with Bo Hines, CEO of Tether US and former Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council, in his first interview since launching USAT in January.

In this conversation, we discuss the latest on Tether’s push into American markets with its “soft launch” of USAT, Bo’s thoughts on Clarity Act delays, where Tether stands on the yield debate, why he’s bullish on stablecoins expanding US global dominance, and why most securities will be tokenized.

Watch this episode on all platforms here.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

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What you’ll read: Crypto and banks are set to hash it out again over stablecoin yield, with tensions also rising around the Fed’s proposed “skinny” master accounts. Plus, what we’re watching this week.

The White House has scheduled a second meeting Tuesday afternoon with representatives from the crypto and banking industries in an effort to broker an agreement on the payment of stablecoin yield by crypto firms.

The gathering will not include company CEOs, but senior policy staff from banks and crypto firms, as well as some representatives from banking and crypto trade groups. Sources say major banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, have been invited, and invites may also have gone to PNC, Citi and U.S. Bank. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal is also expected to attend.

Crypto In America was first to report the meeting, and you can read more about it here.

Besides arguing about stablecoin yield, banks and crypto leaders are also clashing over the Fed’s proposed “skinny” master accounts, which would give eligible fintech firms limited access to the Fed’s payment rails.

The divide was illustrated in 44 comment letters from a mix of crypto companies and groups, bank trade associations, and individuals, submitted to the central bank Friday. The response from the crypto side was largely positive, but the banks sounded overwhelmingly cautious, sometimes bordering on negative.

Stablecoin issuer Circle said the “skinny” master accounts would “increase the resiliency of the overall payment system”, while the Blockchain Payments Consortium (comprising leading blockchain infrastructure providers like Fireblocks, Polygon, Solana and TON) said they would “eliminate uncompetitive practices that undercut consumers and concentrate risk around a handful of banks.”

Not all crypto firms were satisfied, though. Anchorage Digital called the move a “positive step,” but criticized the proposal for not giving beneficiaries direct access to the Fed’s automated clearing house, the ability to maintain balances, and earn interest on reserves.

The banks, meanwhile, worry crypto’s less robust regulatory status could pose a problem. The American Bankers Association feels many of the entities that would be eligible for a payment account “lack a long-run supervisory track record, are not subject to consistent federal safety-and-soundness standards and may rely on evolving statutory or regulatory regimes.” The Colorado Bankers Association worries such accounts could “open up a window for expedited fraud.”

Fierce crypto critic and Better Markets CEO, Dennis Kelleher, submitted his own letter, calling the proposal “a reckless giveaway to the crypto industry that unnecessarily expands the Fed’s mandate without justification and undermines the Fed’s true mandate.”

The Fed said it would take the comments into consideration before starting to write rules around skinny master accounts, which Fed Governor Waller told Crypto In America he’s hoping to put out in the fourth quarter of this year.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

1:30 p.m.: Fed Governor Christopher Waller discusses digital assets at the Global Interdependence Center Summit in La Jolla, California.

Tuesday

2:30 p.m.: The White House will host a meeting with crypto and banking representatives to try to reach an agreement on the payment of stablecoin yield by crypto firms.

3:00 p.m.: CNBC hosts the first Digital Finance Forum with speakers CFTC Chairman Mike Selig, Galaxy founder and CEO Mike Novogratz, MoonPay founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright, and others.

Wednesday

8:30 a.m.: The BLS will release its latest jobs report and the unemployment rate for January following last week’s delay due to the partial government shutdown.

10:00 a.m.: Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins will testify before the House Financial Services Committee.

Consensus Hong Kong hosted by CoinDesk kicks off. The Crypto In America team will be on the ground.

Thursday

10:00 a.m.: Chair Atkins testifies before the Senate Banking Committee.

Friday

8:30 a.m.: The BLS will publish its January Consumer Price Index, a key inflation gauge.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

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The White House has scheduled a second meeting Tuesday afternoon with representatives from the crypto and banking industries, in an effort to broker an agreement on the payment of stablecoin yield by crypto firms, three sources familiar with the plans tell Crypto In America.

Similar to last week’s initial meeting, the second gathering will not include company CEOs. However, senior policy staff from individual banks will be present.

Sources familiar with the plans say invitations have already gone out to some of the major banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, and could also include PNC, Citi, and U.S. Bank. Press representatives for some firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while others declined to comment. A White House spokesperson also did not respond.

As before, crypto trade representatives are expected to attend, along with a handful from the banking sector, including the Bank Policy Institute, the American Bankers Association, and the Independent Community Bankers of America, though each side is expected to send fewer participants.

In terms of reaching a deal, it's too soon to say which of the various proposals to resolve this issue may gain traction, though the meeting is expected to discuss specifics for a potential compromise.

To recap, banks want to limit crypto firms from offering interest on stablecoins because they see it as a threat to their business. They fear mass withdrawals to high-yield crypto accounts could leave them short on cash for loans and cause broader financial disruption. Crypto firms, in turn, see it as banks trying to tilt the playing field, protect their regulatory moat, and slow innovation.

In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared to acknowledge that banks’ concerns had some validity, saying, “Look, I’ve been a champion of these small banks, and deposit volatility is very undesirable…We will continue to work to make sure there is no deposit volatility associated with [the payment of yield on stablecoins].”

At stake is the future of crypto market structure legislation, known as the Clarity Act, which is currently awaiting action in the Senate Banking Committee, after Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) canceled a vote last month following public opposition from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong that the bill favored banks by limiting crypto firms’ ability to offer interest on stablecoins to consumers on their platforms. The yield issue has become the White House’s top focus, seemingly even more so than other sticking points like ethics or decentralized finance.

Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger told Crypto In America on Friday that the crypto industry is meeting internally ‘almost daily’ to coordinate on feasible compromises, so they’re ready to bring solutions to the table. The banks also appear clear on their plan of action.

“On our side, we’ve been aligning on the principles we care about, but we’re coming in with a productive mindset and optimism that we can get something done,” a banking industry representative told Crypto In America.

White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt has urged the parties to strike a deal by the end of the month.

What you’ll read: Market structure discussions are coming back in a meeting between Senate Democrats this afternoon; Superstate CEO talks bringing Wall Street onchain, and this week’s top stories.

Senate Democrats are scheduled to meet later today to restart discussions on crypto market structure, as first reported by Crypto In America.

This will be one of the most crucial meetings since the Senate Banking Committee postponed its Clarity Act markup last month, which sees pro-crypto minority party members convene to confer on key issues, including ethics and DeFi, and determine their positions.

The meeting comes as Democratic lawmakers and their staff have repeatedly consulted with crypto industry representatives in the weeks since the markup was postponed.

It’s unclear whether the agenda includes stablecoin yield — a big issue, and top concern for Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), that brought the January markup to a screeching halt. Both sides described Monday’s White House meeting between the crypto and banking industries on the matter as “constructive,” and White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt called it “fact-based and solutions-oriented,” expressing confidence the issue will be resolved.

According to some reports, the banking coalition — made up of representatives from trade groups like the Bank Policy Institute, Independent Community Bankers of America, and others — appeared reserved in the meeting, sticking to their talking points and avoiding details, while crypto delegates, representing most of the major crypto firms and trade associations, pushed to dive into specific solutions. More meetings are expected over the coming weeks.

Two sources inside the room confirmed to Crypto In America that Witt closed the meeting by urging the parties to agree to a deal by the end of the month. As we have reported before, the White House and Senate Banking Committee do not want to commit to a new markup date until outstanding issues have been dealt with.

Bringing Wall Street On Chain With Superstate

This week on the podcast, we sat down with Robert Leshner, co-founder and CEO of crypto fintech startup Superstate, to explore the future of tokenization on Wall Street.

We discussed Superstate’s $82M raise, what gets tokenized (and what doesn’t), tokenized deposits, DATs, stablecoins, DeFi, and when capital markets might fully embrace going onchain.

Leshner also shared his take on the most overhyped tokenization use cases, and how crypto’s presence is growing in traditional finance.

Watch the full episode on all platforms here.

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Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• President Donald Trump signed a $1.2 trillion spending package to end the partial government shutdown. The money will fund most of the federal government through September 30.

• Global crypto market cap has declined roughly $500 billion in less than a week, bringing total losses to about $1.7 trillion since Bitcoin’s October peak.

• Kalshi and Polymarket hosted free grocery events in New York City, and Polymarket is set to open a free grocery pop-up store for five days next week.

• Crypto wallet MetaMask has integrated tokenized stocks, ETFs and commodities into its platform via a partnership with Ondo Finance.

• Crypto.com unveiled its own standalone prediction markets platform.

• Nevada regulators sued Coinbase Financial Markets to block it from offering event-based sports and election contracts without state gaming licenses.

• President Trump said he was unaware that a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family had purchased a $500 million stake in the Trump family’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial, following a Wall Street Journal investigation.

• Friday’s January jobs report will be delayed due to the partial government shutdown, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Fed Governor Stephen Miran stepped down as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in order to stay on at the Fed.

Remember, new editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

Subscribe now