White House Convenes Banks and Crypto Industry Over Stablecoin Yield Dispute

The White House has scheduled a high-stakes, staff-level meeting for Tuesday, February 10, 2026, aimed at resolving a regulatory deadlock between major U.S. banks and the cryptocurrency industry over stablecoin yield and reward mechanisms.

The talks are designed to unblock negotiations around the CLARITY Act, a digital asset market structure bill that stalled in the Senate Banking Committee after companies such as Coinbase withdrew support. The withdrawal followed the inclusion of provisions that would ban stablecoin “rewards” or interest-like payments to users.

Shift From Trade Groups to Direct Institutional Talks

Unlike an earlier White House summit held on February 2, the February 10 meeting will involve direct participation from individual financial institutions, rather than relying primarily on trade associations.

Expected Participants

Major U.S. Banks

• JPMorgan
• Bank of America
• Wells Fargo
• Citigroup
• PNC
• U.S. Bank

Banking Trade Groups

• American Bankers Association
• Bank Policy Institute
• Independent Community Bankers of America

Crypto Industry Representatives

• Blockchain Association
• Digital Chamber
• Crypto Council for Innovation

The discussions are being facilitated by Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Digital Assets.

The Core Dispute: Stablecoin Yield and “Rewards”

At the center of the impasse is whether non-bank entities, such as crypto exchanges and digital asset platforms, should be permitted to pass yield or rewards to stablecoin holders.

Banking Sector View

Banks argue that yield-bearing stablecoins function as “shadow deposits.” They warn that if crypto firms are allowed to offer interest-like returns without bank-level regulation, it could drive as much as $500 billion in deposit outflows from traditional banks by 2028, potentially destabilizing the U.S. financial system.

From this perspective, banning rewards is framed as a financial stability measure rather than an anti-crypto stance.

Crypto Industry View

Crypto industry leaders counter that rewards are a standard feature of digital finance and integral to user adoption. They argue that banning rewards would be anti-competitive, suppress U.S. innovation, and effectively grant banks a monopoly over dollar-denominated yield products, despite stablecoins operating on different technological rails.

Deadline Pressure and Legislative Stakes

The White House has imposed a firm deadline of late February 2026 for both sides to produce compromise legislative language.

A resolution is widely viewed as the linchpin for advancing the CLARITY Act, which is intended to establish the first comprehensive federal framework for digital asset market structure in the United States. Without agreement on stablecoin yield treatment, the bill is expected to remain stalled.

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