Crypto Bill Stablecoin Yield Compromise Could Come This Week: Tim Scott

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), chair of the powerful Senate Banking Committee, said Tuesday he expects to have a potential compromise on the thorny issue of stablecoin yield, which has long delayed crypto’s market structure bill, “by the end of this week.”

“I believe that this week the first proposal [will be in] my hand to take a look at,” Scott said, speaking at the DC Blockchain Summit. 

A source familiar with the matter told Decrypt the White House plans to announce an update on the issue as soon as tomorrow.

For months, crypto’s long-coveted market structure bill has languished in the Senate. Though the House passed its own version of crypto market structure, the Clarity Act, with substantial bipartisan support last summer, the Senate has been much slower to act. Senators in both parties have raised objections on certain key issues.

A market structure bill would enshrine the legality of most crypto activity in federal law, effectively safeguarding the industry from the possibility of another crypto-skeptical presidential administration. It would clear the way for companies to create and sell blockchain-based tokens to retail customers in the United States—something the Joe Biden-era SEC under Chair Gary Gensler had largely attempted to prevent through lawsuits and enforcement actions.

The bill’s most recent impasse, though, centers on stablecoin yield. Crypto companies like Coinbase offer customers yield, effectively a form of interest payments, on holdings of stablecoins—crypto tokens pegged to the value of the dollar. The stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump last year, did not outlaw such programs. But the banking lobby has since demanded that they should be banned, in part because of their potential impact on low-yield bank savings accounts.

In January, on the eve of a key Senate Banking Committee vote on the market structure bill, Coinbase abruptly withdrew support for the legislation over fears it might limit stablecoin rewards. The Senate Banking vote was pulled, and has yet to be rescheduled. 

The White House subsequently held several meetings between the crypto and banking industries regarding the stablecoin yield issue, with a stated goal of reaching a deal by March. But no such deal was ever reached, and the talks between both industries have since stalled, sources familiar with the matter told Decrypt.

But key senators focused on the issue and concerned about its impact on the banking industry—namely Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD)—have since engaged directly with Senate leadership and the White House on the matter, sources familiar told Decrypt.

Many crypto leaders and lawmakers agree the window to pass the legislation is quickly shrinking, as Congress prepares to grind to a halt in advance of the 2026 midterms.

“We really are running out of time,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), chair of the House Agriculture Digital Assets Subcommittee, said Tuesday, on the same stage Scott later spoke on.

Johnson estimated the Senate has perhaps six weeks left to get its market structure bill over the finish line.

“We are very close to being out of time,” Johnson said. “I’m concerned we’re going to blow it without meaning to.”

Speaking also at the DC Blockchain Summit on Tuesday, Pierre Yared, the acting chair of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, emphasized how critical the issue of stablecoin yield programs could end up being for crypto companies like Coinbase.

“The effects on the banking system are small, " Yared said, speaking of stablecoin rewards. “[But] the effects on stablecoin adoption could be potentially large, depending on where this yield question falls.”

Even if the yield issue is addressed in short order, several hurdles would remain for the Senate’s crypto market structure bill.

Those include the issue of the Trump family’s numerous crypto ventures; several key Senate Democrats have insisted the businesses must be outlawed by the crypto bill, but the White House has considered such restrictions to be a non-starter. They also include the thorny question of decentralized finance, or DeFi—financial applications that exist natively on blockchain networks and circumvent the need for third-party intermediaries like banks.

Many industry stakeholders have said they would walk away from the bill if Senate Democrats made good on demands, largely related to national security concerns, to undo carve outs in the bill for DeFi projects and platforms.

Scott acknowledged those issues are still not resolved, but he expressed optimism they could be before the market structure bill’s chances of passage evaporate.

“Let us pray,” Scott said.