Barron's writes, "Stablecoin Deal Removes Obstacle to Crypto Bill. What It Means For Coinbase." They explain, "A pair of senators have released a long-awaited compromise on a bill to regulate the cryptocurrency industry. It's a big step forward, but there's still significant uncertainty that the bill has time to become law this year. Sens. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D., Md.) unveiled the deal late Friday on so-called 'stablecoin rewards.' The deal would be included in the so-called Clarity Act, a broad bill to regulate the crypto industry. Under the proposal, crypto companies would be forbidden from offering yields on so-called stablecoins, which are types of tokens tied to the U.S. dollar, that look like yields on bank deposits." The piece continues, "For months, banks have been fighting for such a prohibition, arguing that crypto firms' yield programs might drain deposits from banks. The deal would let crypto firms still pay 'rewards' when customers perform certain activities on their platforms, which regulators would determine later." Barron's adds, "Coinbase Global runs one of the biggest stablecoin rewards programs, offering a 3.5% yield to some customers. Stablecoins have become an increasingly important source of profit for the company amid declining trading revenues. Rewards entice more customers to hold stablecoins, which are often a gateway into trading other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.... The fight between banks and crypto firms has been raging since January and threatened to upend the bill, which broadly would move most crypto trading under the purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a long-stated goal of the crypto industry.... If the Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise sticks, it would solve a major problem keeping the bill from proceeding and could trigger the Senate Banking Committee to vote on the bill as soon as this month. There are still significant hurdles to passage.... The bill's biggest enemy is the clock.... This week's deal is a milestone, but no guarantee that a bill to regulate the crypto industry becomes law."
