Donald Trump takes swipe at banks over stalled crypto bill

US President Donald Trump has taken a shot at banks for stalling the crypto market structure bill from advancing in the Senate over stablecoin yield payments.

“The Genius Act is being threatened and undermined by the Banks, and that is unacceptable — We are not going to allow it,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, mentioning the GENIUS Act that Congress passed in July to regulate stablecoins.

“The U.S. needs to get Market Structure done, ASAP,” he added. “The Banks are hitting record profits, and we are not going to allow them to undermine our powerful Crypto Agenda that will end up going to China, and other Countries if we don’t get The Clarity Act taken care of.”

Trump has touted the GENIUS Act as his crowning achievement to attract crypto companies to the US. The law gives stablecoin issuers a path to regulation, but bans them from directly offering yield payments to holders.

However, third-party platforms such as crypto exchanges can still offer yield to users who hold stablecoins. 

Banking groups have argued that it is a legal loophole and are pushing for the Senate’s crypto market structure bill to include a ban on all stablecoin yield payments. The House passed its version of the bill, called the CLARITY Act, in July.

“The Banks should not be trying to undercut The Genius Act, or hold The Clarity Act hostage. They need to make a good deal with the Crypto Industry because that’s what’s in best interest of the American People,” Trump said.

Source: Donald Trump

Crypto executives and lobbyists have resisted the banks' efforts to include a ban on stablecoin yield payments in the bill, with major lobbyist Coinbase pulling its support for the legislation in January over the issue.

The legislation has since been stalled as the Senate Banking Committee postponed a markup on the bill after Coinbase withdrew support in January, and has yet to set a date to review the legislation.

Banking groups have said that stablecoin yield payments would see money move from bank accounts to stablecoins and risk the stability of the banking system.

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Crypto and banking groups have had three meetings at the White House this year to agree on language that could move the bill forward, but no deal has been reached yet.  

Trump is pushing to have the bill passed as a policy win to take to the midterms in November, where crypto lobbying groups have raised more than $200 million to back those supportive of the industry.

Hill says Senate should consider passing House bill

Representative French Hill, a senior Republican and chair of the House Financial Services Committee, said at an event on Tuesday that the Senate should consider passing the House’s version of the crypto bill if it can’t move forward with its own.

Hill said the House’s CLARITY Act had “reasserted the language in [the GENIUS Act] on a bicameral, bipartisan basis, that stablecoins were a payment device on a blockchain and not an investment device, that they would not pay interest, per se.”

“If the Senate can’t come to a straightforward conclusion here, I recommend they use the language that we have in the House-passed Clarity Act with 78 Democratic votes on it, and use that as the solution,” he said.

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