Stablecoin Legislation Countdown: White House Sets 3/1 Deadline, Earning Interest on Holdings May Be Blocked, Infrastructure Race Ahead

The White House has set a deadline of March 1st, with stablecoin reward provisions becoming the final focal point in the legislative debate over the CLARITY Act. Meanwhile, ProShares and Anchorage have taken early positions.
(Background recap: U.S. banks jointly submitted a loophole to Congress—stablecoin interest payments violate financial regulations, turning $6.6 trillion in deposits into “grey money.”)
(Additional context: ARK Invest: Stablecoins are building the next-generation monetary system.)

Table of Contents

• The banking industry’s bottom line and crypto industry’s counterattack
• ProShares launches a stablecoin reserve ETF compliant with the GENIUS Act
• Anchorage Digital builds a cross-border高速 highway for stablecoins with federal licensing
• Legislation pending, infrastructure first

U.S. stablecoin legislation is entering its final stages. On February 19th, a White House team led by Trump’s crypto advisor Patrick Witt convened a third closed-door meeting with representatives from the banking and crypto industries.

The message from this meeting was clear: some stablecoin reward programs will be retained in the next draft of the Digital Asset Market Transparency Act, the CLARITY Act, with the final deadline for negotiations set for March 1st.

In other words, the White House is no longer asking whether to include reward provisions but is now discussing “how much” to include.

This months-long tug-of-war boils down to a simple core issue: if stablecoin issuers are allowed to pay yields to holders (similar to deposit interest), traditional banks’ deposit business faces systemic diversion. The current stablecoin market size has approached $300 billion, with analysts expecting it to grow tenfold over the next five years.

For banks, this is a number they cannot ignore.

The banking industry’s bottom line and crypto industry’s counterattack

The White House team drew a compromise line: reward programs for specific activities can be preserved, but stablecoin rewards akin to deposit accounts will be excluded. This means mechanisms like staking and trading rebates might pass, but “holding coins for interest,” which directly impacts banks’ core business, is temporarily blocked.

Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association, said the meeting marked a “constructive step” toward resolving reward disputes and advancing legislation. However, in a previous meeting on February 10th, banking representatives were more assertive. Reports indicate they even “don’t want an agreement,” attempting to completely remove the issue of stablecoin yields from the Market Structure Bill.

The essence of this game is a redistribution of liquidity. If stablecoins can legally pay yields, some funds will shift from the banking deposit system onto the blockchain. For the crypto industry, this is an inevitable upgrade of financial infrastructure; for banks, it signals the beginning of deposit erosion.

ProShares launches a stablecoin reserve ETF compliant with the GENIUS Act

While legislation remains undecided, the market is already racing ahead. On February 19th, ETF giant ProShares announced the launch of the GENIUS Money Market ETF (ticker: IQMM), the world’s first money market fund compliant with the GENIUS Act, which invests in short-term U.S. Treasuries maturing within 93 days, aiming to become the preferred reserve asset for stablecoin issuers.

The GENIUS Act was signed into law last July, requiring stablecoin issuers to back their tokens with 1:1 safe, liquid assets and undergo monthly independent audits. IQMM uses a market-based net asset value (not fixed at $1), providing more precise reserve proof for stablecoin issuers while supporting same-day settlement.

Anchorage Digital builds a cross-border高速 highway for stablecoins with federal licensing

In the same week, crypto bank Anchorage Digital announced an “Stablecoin Solution” for international banks, integrating stablecoin minting and redemption, compliant custody, fiat fund management, and blockchain-native settlement functions.

Non-U.S. financial institutions can hold and settle tokenized U.S. dollar assets through Anchorage’s federal banking license framework, including Tether’s US₮, Ethena Labs’ USDtb, OSL’s USDGO, and the upcoming Western Union USDPT.

Anchorage is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). CEO Nathan McCauley stated that this solution aims to replace traditional correspondent banking cross-border clearing systems with a regulated stablecoin track, reducing settlement times from days to minutes and decreasing liquidity locked in pre-funded accounts.

Legislation pending, infrastructure first

From the White House’s final ultimatum to ProShares’ reserve ETF and Anchorage’s cross-border settlement solution, the stablecoin ecosystem is rapidly revolving around legislation. The March 1st negotiation deadline will determine the final shape of reward provisions in the CLARITY Act, directly impacting the flow of hundreds of billions of dollars.