However, the major thrust of bank lobbying on the Clarity Act has been to suggest Main Street community bankers won’t be able to extend mortgages and business loans if their depositors flee.
“When crypto gets a free pass, communities pay the price,” according to a recent ad backed by the Independent Community Bankers of America, pitting community banks against the crypto industry.
That argument soured some lawmakers on the bill.
“My state right now — agriculture folks, local community people — are very, very worried about the effect on community banks,” Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, told Politico earlier this month. “They are blowing me up over it.
One recently established crypto advocacy group, the Digital Sovereignty Alliance, argues that the industry may want to give ground to the banks if it means better odds for Clarity.
“There are some battles worth fighting for innovation, and there are some battles that are better ceded to build a durable regulatory framework,” Managing Director Adrian Wall said in a statement to CoinDesk. “If resolving the yield question is what it takes to bring the banking sector into a broader consensus on market structure, that is a trade worth making.”
