CoinDesk
The Clarity Act, the first comprehensive U.S. framework for digital assets, could redirect billions in crypto capital from passive hold-to-earn products into a new compliant "yield-as-a-service" layer, according to STBL Chief Commercial Officer Joe Vollono. The bill has already cleared the Senate Banking Committee and is expected to head for a full Senate vote as early as July, after which regulators would have roughly 12 months to implement the framework.
Why it matters
The flashpoint is Section 404, which prohibits Digital Asset Service Providers (DASPs) and their affiliates from offering yield purely as a function of holding a digital asset. That single clause forces a structural shift: crypto users can no longer park assets and collect rewards by default, and platforms must build active, compliant yield-generation strategies on top. "What this effectively does is shift the industry from a hold-to-earn market to a use-to-earn market," Vollono said. "You're going to need compliant yield strategies to generate rewards on what would otherwise be idle capital." With the bill on a July timeline, the runway for builders to reposition is short.
Market impact
Vollono expects a new middle layer of infrastructure providers — vault curators, DeFi rails, collateral managers, automated treasury and lending markets — to emerge, much of it orchestrated by AI acting on smart contracts, oracles and APIs already deployed. Banks, he argued, are more likely to compete inside the new framework by collateralizing reserves and issuing their own stablecoins than to lose share to it. STBL, which pitches itself as "stablecoin 2.0," is positioning to capture the reserve-economics upside for users rather than centralized issuers. "Once these issues are resolved, it allows capital at scale to enter the market," Vollono added. "That's the real catalyst here."
Frequently asked questions
-
What is the Clarity Act and where does it stand?
The Clarity Act is the first comprehensive U.S. framework for digital assets, defining which tokens fall under SEC or CFTC jurisdiction. It has cleared the Senate Banking Committee and could head to a full Senate vote as early as July, with roughly 12 months for regulators to implement the rules.
-
What does Section 404 actually change?
Section 404 prohibits Digital Asset Service Providers and their affiliates from offering yield solely as a function of holding a digital asset. In practice, it forces platforms to move from passive hold-to-earn products toward active, compliant yield-generation strategies built on top of the underlying capital.
-
What is "yield-as-a-service" in this context?
Yield-as-a-service refers to a new infrastructure layer of vault curators, collateral managers, automated treasury tools, lending markets and AI-orchestrated strategies that generate compliant returns on otherwise idle digital-asset capital — a shift away from passive token rewards toward active capital deployment.
-
Why does Joe Vollono think banks will participate rather than lose?
Vollono argues that the fractional-reserve model is resilient and that smart incumbents will compete by collateralizing reserves to issue their own stablecoins and earn compliant yield under the new framework, rather than surrendering deposit share to crypto-native issuers.
-
How does AI fit into the picture?
Vollono expects AI to act as an orchestration layer across the new compliant yield stack — automating treasury, lending, collateral and rewards workflows on smart contracts, oracles, DeFi rails and API-based infrastructure that already exists in production today.
CoinTelegraph
WatcherGuru
Crypto News
TheBlock
WuBlockchain
CryptoSlate