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Clarity Act editorial disputes stablecoin payment and protocol control provisions
The bill would bar paying for merely holding stablecoins, while directing the SEC and Treasury to write rules for operators of protocols that are decentralized in name only.
CoinDesk highlighted a Wall Street Journal editorial discussion of the Clarity Act, arguing that while the bill is framed as having policy “landmines,” the editorial concedes it would end the existing regulatory gray zone and provide investors and banks more durable rules across administrations.
According to CoinDesk, the Blockchain Association’s Summer Mersinger, CEO of the trade group and a former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission commissioner, said the bill’s stablecoin provisions specifically target payment for merely holding stablecoins, and also prohibit programs that function economically like interest on a bank deposit.
CoinDesk added that the bill would allow rewards tied to customer activity, so long as those rewards are not equivalent to bank-deposit interest, comparing the approach to existing credit card and loyalty programs.
CoinDesk also noted that the Act would require the SEC, with the Treasury, to write rules for protocol operators with material control over systems that are decentralized in name only, and it would expand Bank Secrecy Act reporting obligations for registered digital commodity brokers, dealers, and exchanges.