Who gets the yield? CLARITY Act becomes fight over onchain dollars

The CLARITY Act is becoming a fight over who controls yield as rules split DeFi companies and incumbents and risk pushing onchain US dollar yield offshore.

Since missing its Jan. 15 markup date and being pushed to the end of the month, the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act is becoming a proxy fight over who gets to intermediate US dollar yield onchain — open decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and payment rails, or a narrow club of large custodians and banks?

With the latest draft tightening how rewards on stablecoins can be offered, critics, including stablecoin issuers and institutional DeFi platforms, warn the bill risks exporting onchain credit offshore rather than making it safer in the United States.

Coinbase’s decision to pull support for the bill this week laid bare industry fears that the compromise has tipped too far toward incumbents, the text locking in a punitive model for DeFi and rewards.

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