Key Takeaways
- A new CLARITY Act compromise still appears to bar yield on passive stablecoin balances.
- Coinbase told the Senate it could not support the updated language.
- The same stablecoin-yield dispute that stalled the bill before is still threatening its Senate path.
A compromise meant to restart Senate momentum on the CLARITY Act is already facing resistance.
Punchbowl News reported that Coinbase told the Senate earlier this week it could not support the latest bill text and raised “significant concerns” about the updated stablecoin-yield provisions.
Yield Language Still Looks Like the Central Fault Line
The latest draft still appears to preserve a strict restriction on paying yield directly or indirectly on passive stablecoin balances.
The House passed the CLARITY Act on July 17, 2025, by a 294-134 vote.
In the Senate Banking Committee draft, digital asset service providers are barred from paying interest or yield solely for holding a payment stablecoin, while some reward structures remain permitted.
Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott said on March 18 that negotiations on stablecoin yield were still ongoing.
Coinbase had already broken publicly with the earlier Senate draft in January, when CEO Brian Armstrong said the company “can’t support the bill as written.”
The newest compromise text would prohibit digital asset service providers from offering yield on stablecoin balances directly or indirectly, including arrangements considered economically or functionally equivalent to bank interest.
The latest compromise was led by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks.
The circulating proposal would also block crypto exchanges from paying rewards on stablecoin balances and further constrain incentive programs by limiting access to transaction-size data used to calculate rewards.
Some activity-based rewards tied to transactions, loyalty programs, subscriptions or platform use could still remain possible, with regulators left to define the boundary later.
That may keep negotiations alive for now.
It does not resolve the commercial issue for crypto firms seeking room to offer rewards without being treated like banks.
The immediate fight is over what the draft bans now.
Another fight would likely center on how broadly regulators interpret the final language.
Coinbase Has Not Signed off on the New Clarity Act
Coinbase intervened publicly when the earlier Senate draft drew objections.
This time, the company told the Senate it could not support the latest compromise.
Senate negotiators are still trying to show the revised language answers the objections that derailed the previous markup, and Coinbase’s response suggests that effort is still incomplete.
The current picture is still unresolved. A compromise draft is circulating.
The most contentious language still centers on passive stablecoin yield.
Coinbase has signaled that the new draft still does not satisfy its concerns.
Same Fight, New Draft
Negotiators are still trying to hold together a compromise after weeks of bank-crypto conflict over stablecoin rewards.
A White House-backed effort to move the bill forward had already run into renewed resistance from banks, which argued that allowing yield-like features could pull deposits out of the traditional banking system.
The latest draft is an attempt to settle the clause that has kept the Senate version of the CLARITY Act from building a durable coalition.
For now, the cleanest read is this: the Senate has a compromise draft, and support around it still looks unsettled.
The latest language may have narrowed the gap but the underlying dispute remains open.
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