The number of meetings in DC with various teams of lobbyists for the cryptography and banking industries regarding stalled legislation related to cryptography and cryptocurrency and who can offer stablecoin rewards to consumers is indicative of how important the issue is considered. Attending parties are negotiating contracts related to who can offer stablecoin rewards.
Ripple's chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, was quoted saying that the final agreement is not signed yet but that he was “satisfied to see movement in the right direction,” with Coinbase's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, describing their discussions as positive and helpful to both sides. The blockchain association's CEO, Summer Mersinger, said that this shows progress is being made by both parties, even if there may still be some distance to go before having closure.
For many years, the creation of a broader crypto-market structure bill has been a high priority for the industry and will now receive some attention in the Senate although some progress has stalled over the issuance of stablecoins. The conflict does not revolve around whether stablecoins should be created or issued; it is simply over whether issuers, including exchanges, such as Coinbase, for example, can provide rewarded or yielded payments to holders of stablecoins under defined requirements.
Banks are against stablecoins earning interest on their idle balances as this would represent the same type of regulated deposit accounts that make up banks primary source of income. The crypto community believes that offered yield to consumers represents the latest in consumer-advancing innovation, while banks argue that any product which has the same function and pays like a deposit also needs to face the same type of regulation placed upon current banks.
Source: Author
The administration has agreed to allow outside parties to give rewards that are only tied to transaction activity, while prohibiting them for balances held on accounts.
The separation is important because transaction rewards will only occur when users move, spend, or send stablecoins, and balance-based rewards will accumulate passively for holding funds, similar to bank interest paid on either a checking or savings account.
This solution provides a continued yield on crypto while attempting to address the banks’ concerns about unregulated stablecoins taking their deposits without having protections in place. It is not certain that this solution will bridge the gap until an agreement has been reached during the continuing discussion.
Stablecoins with a market capitalization of hundreds of billions of US dollars will create competition for savings accounts, money market mutual funds, and core funding sources for banks by providing even a small yield on balances. This is not just an academic argument; there are already a number of cryptocurrency operations with business models that involve holding U.S. Treasury securities, and thus providing similar yield to customers as money market mutual funds have done for decades, subject to a large number of regulatory restrictions. Banks argue that giving up this regulatory framework constitutes "regulatory arbitrage," which presents a risk to the stability of the banking system.
The cryptocurrency industry argues that DC regulators have weaponized the regulatory process to enable banks to eliminate competition from cryptocurrencies, but not to protect consumers, and their opinions on this issue are informed by the mixed record of innovation from the banking industry.
Source: Author
Coinbase, Ripple and Blockchain Association, have all exhibited tremendous discipline by not presenting themselves as having achieved any degree of success or advancement. These companies use terms such as “positive”, “moving forward” and “getting down to work”. This wording demonstrates that these companies have accomplished much and completed a lot without creating unawarded expectations.
The comments made by Alderoty about the establishment of “specific language” signify that progress has been achieved. Meaning the transition from being in overall high-level disagreement to being in overall low-level detailed word-for-word drafting will tell you where there is more significant agreement with respect to establishing an overall framework - the traditional step before the final phases of drafting.
The comment made by Mersinger regarding the relationship between the rewards draft to the overall market structure draft shows a direct relationship and sets up the two drafts to share the same project timeline; therefore, any delay in either of the drafts will cause a delay in the other draft.
The proposed legislation could create the largest federal oversight of cryptocurrency in decades; it will address SEC/CFTC jurisdiction, provide certainty for issuers and exchanges, and create parameters for healthy growth of digital assets in the United States. To pass, legislators need to find a compromise relating to stablecoins that will maintain the unity of the cryptocurrency industry while keeping banking-interested lawmakers supportive as well as the overall diversity of the industry itself - some benefit more from having high balances on deposit than others. In addition, banks have significant relationships with Capitol Hill and have the ability to stall action if protections are insufficient.
The White House's active mediation (with three meetings over the course of 16 days) shows the administration is serious about this issue and is making a major financial investment into it; this is very different than what typically occurs and signifies that there is a time sensitive nature.
Pay special attention to what happens in the fourth meeting regarding the framing of transaction versus balance as it becomes codified in draft form. If this happens, then negotiations will change and if the transaction versus balance framing is rejected, the issue will return to a state of deadlock and the timeline for resolution will be extended.
Senate conditions related to scheduling, competing priorities, and the calendar limit the number of weeks/discussion days that exist before the session will end.
While the rewards discussions presently seem very narrow, they will ultimately determine the long-term future of stable coins within the American financial markets; and they will establish the battleground between crypto platforms and banks for some time after any legislation is enacted.
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