CoinDesk
The US Senate is scheduled to vote September 15 on whether to take up the Clarity Act, the long-pending market-structure bill that would draw the jurisdictional line between the SEC and CFTC over digital assets. Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association and a former CFTC commissioner, argues in a new op-ed that the American Bankers Association is attempting to reopen a stablecoin-yield provision negotiated over many months and frame the edits as 'a handful of word changes.' Mersinger contends the changes would not strengthen the bill but restart a negotiation nobody has time to finish before the legislative window closes ahead of the midterms.
Why it matters
The two contested edits target the standard governing when stablecoin issuers can offer rewards. Replacing the existing test with 'substantially similar to interest' would create what Mersinger calls an elastic legal standard that could be stretched to capture any program returning economic value to a customer. Striking the word 'solely', inherited from the GENIUS Act, would expand the prohibition on yield payments beyond rewards tied purely to holding the coin, reaching conduct Congress deliberately kept outside the restriction. Mersinger, drawing on three years at the CFTC, warned that ambiguous statutory language handed to a regulator without further guidance is the kind of gift to industry lawyers that costs agencies years of rulemaking to interpret.
The banking lobby's case, made in a recent op-ed by ABA CEO Rob Nichols, rests on a forecast of deposit flight from banks into stablecoins. Mersinger counters with the actual data: FDIC figures show US bank deposits have grown every quarter since GENIUS became law, adding more than $800 billion across the three full quarters reported. The real competition for deposits, she argues, comes from money market funds, which have pulled in trillions by offering genuine market-leading yields without prompting a congressional cap on what those funds may pay.
Frequently asked questions
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When does the Senate vote on the Clarity Act?
The procedural vote is scheduled for September 15. It requires 60 votes to proceed to debate, with less than three working weeks remaining before the fall spending fight closes the legislative window ahead of the midterms.
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What changes is the American Bankers Association pushing for?
ABA wants to replace the existing standard governing when stablecoin issuers can pay rewards with 'substantially similar to interest' and strike the word 'solely' inherited from the GENIUS Act, which limits the yield ban to rewards tied purely to holding the coin itself.
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Why does the Blockchain Association oppose the edits?
CEO Summer Mersinger argues both changes are substantive rather than cosmetic, would replace a negotiated standard with ambiguity for regulators to interpret, and reopen a settled provision four weeks before a procedural vote no one has time to renegotiate.
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What evidence does Mersinger cite against the deposit-flight argument?
FDIC data shows US bank deposits have grown every quarter since GENIUS became law, adding more than $800 billion across the three full quarters reported. Money market funds, not stablecoins, are the real source of deposit competition, she argues.
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What consumer protections does the Clarity Act add?
The bill draws a jurisdictional line between the SEC and CFTC, requires platforms serving US customers to register, mandates segregation of customer assets, and imposes disclosure and conflict-of-interest rules across the digital-asset platform market.
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