Who Controls the Profit Rights of Digital Dollars? The Wall Street vs. Crypto Capital Game Behind the CLARITY Act
The CLARITY Act represents a pivotal U.S. legislative effort to regulate digital assets, moving beyond the infrastructure-focused GENIUS Act. It aims to end "regulation by enforcement" by granting the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over digital commodities and the SEC over investment contracts. A major conflict emerged in the Senate over "yield-bearing stablecoins." Traditional banks, fearing massive deposit outflows and damage to their net interest margins, lobbied for a total ban on third-party stablecoin yields. The crypto industry, led by Coinbase, argued this would stifle innovation, deprive users of rightful earnings from underlying assets like Treasuries, and drive capital offshore.
The debate reached a stalemate in early 2026, stalling the bill's progress. White House mediation set a March 1 deadline for a compromise. A proposed solution, the "Digital Markets Restructure Act," introduced a "Yield Neutrality" principle, decoupling yield rights from bank charters, and a "Residual-Risk Assessment Model" to regulate based on actual risk (enterprise, exposure, market) rather than outdated classifications.
The outcome will profoundly impact the U.S. financial system: potentially deepening demand for U.S. Treasuries, lowering government borrowing costs, and extending dollar hegemony digitally. It forces traditional banks to digitize and could cause a major schism in DeFi, pushing compliant players toward institutionalization and smaller, non-compliant protocols offshore. The act ultimately decides who controls the profits of the digital dollar.
marsbit02/22 05:34
