US Senate Advances Stablecoin Regulatory Bill, Key Disputes Focus on Yield and DeFi News Boundaries

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is advancing revisions to the CLARITY Act, with a crucial markup session expected in late March. Currently, the bill's progress heavily relies on the position of Senator Thom Tillis, whose voting intention is seen as critical to the bill's passage through the committee. Despite previous delays due to disputes, the legislative team has recently accelerated text consultations, striving to reach a technical consensus without predetermining the overall congressional voting strategy or subsequent regulatory rules.

The core issues currently hindering the bill's progress are concentrated in three areas: stablecoin yield mechanisms, the regulatory boundaries of decentralized finance (DeFi News), and the compliance framework for tokenized securities. According to Blockonomi, lawmakers remain significantly divided on whether stablecoin holders should be allowed to earn yield and whether such yield should be subject to traditional financial rules. Meanwhile, the capital treatment of tokenized securities has received regulatory clarification—they will enjoy the same capital treatment as traditional securities, aiming to reduce arbitrage opportunities, but ambiguities remain regarding the operational aspects of blockchain intermediaries in clearing and custody.

The division of jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) remains a deep-seated conflict in the negotiations. Forbes points out that the two sides have not yet unified on whether digital assets are "commodities," the definition of trading venues, and the responsibilities of intermediaries. These differences directly affect the establishment of information disclosure, market monitoring, and asset custody standards. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott emphasized that the bill is the result of bipartisan consultation, aimed at providing clear rules for innovation and preventing the United States from losing its competitiveness in the digital finance sector. However, major crypto platform Coinbase has publicly withdrawn its support for the draft, arguing that the current version would severely suppress innovation, particularly by restricting stablecoin yields, hindering the development of DeFi News platforms, and effectively prohibiting the launch of tokenized stocks. Traditional financial institutions are more concerned with the prudence of yield distribution and compliance consistency, hoping to avoid establishing an independent regulatory system for blockchain assets. Uncertainty also exists within the White House. According to AOL, the government has considered weakening its support for the overall market structure bill, reflecting a lack of consensus at the federal level on the scale of regulation. The final direction of the bill will depend on the balance between yield rights, technological neutrality, and financial stability.