By Hannah Lang
Jan 28 (Reuters) – The White House on Monday will meet with executives from the banking and cryptocurrency industries to discuss a path forward for landmark crypto legislation which has stalled due to a clash between the two powerful sectors, said three industry sources.
The summit hosted by the White House’s crypto council will include executives from several trade groups. It will focus on how the bill treats interest and other rewards crypto firms can dish out on customer holdings of dollar-pegged tokens known as stablecoins, the people said.
The White House meeting could help the industries, which have been fighting head-to-head over the bill, reach a compromise, and underscores how keen President Donald Trump’s administration is to get the legislation across the line. Trump courted crypto cash on the campaign trail, promising to promote the adoption of crypto assets.
Reuters was first to report the meeting.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sources declined to be identified discussing private policy discussions.
Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association which represents crypto giants including Coinbase, Ripple and Kraken, said in a statement the group is “proud to participate in next week’s meeting.”
“We look forward to continuing to work with policymakers across the aisle so Congress can advance lasting market structure legislation and ensure the United States remains the crypto capital of the world,” she said.
Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, another major crypto trade group, credited the White House with “pulling all sides to the negotiating table.”
The Senate has for months been working on the bill, dubbed the Clarity Act, which aims to create federal rules for digital assets, the culmination of years of crypto industry lobbying. Crypto companies have long argued that existing rules are inadequate for digital assets, and that legislation is essential for companies to continue to operate with legal certainty in the U.S.
The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill in July.
The Senate Banking Committee was scheduled earlier this month to debate and vote on the bill, but the meeting was postponed at the last minute, in part due to concerns among lawmakers and both industries over the interest issue.
There were also disagreements among Republicans about the bill’s stablecoin provisions, according to two other people with knowledge of the discussions, and senators leading the effort bill were concerned that it would not get enough votes to advance.
Crypto companies say providing rewards such as interest is crucial for recruiting new customers and that barring them from doing so would be anti-competitive. Banks say the increased competition could result in insured lenders experiencing an exodus of deposits — the primary source of funding for most banks — potentially threatening financial stability.
A report from Standard Chartered on Tuesday estimated that stablecoins could pull around $500 billion in deposits out of U.S. banks by the end of 2028.
The provision at issue stems from a law passed last year which created a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, potentially paving the way for greater stablecoin adoption.
That bill prohibited stablecoin issuers from paying interest on cryptocurrencies, but banks say it left open a loophole that would allow for third parties – such as crypto exchanges – to pay yield on tokens, creating new competition for deposits.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
