Trump Turns Up the Heat on Banks as CLARITY Act Stalls

In a post on Truth Social on March 4, Trump accused banks of actively working to undermine the CLARITY Act, warning that failure to advance the legislation risked ceding American dominance in the crypto industry to foreign competitors, specifically naming China. “The Banks are hitting record profits, and we are not going to allow them to undermine our powerful Crypto Agenda,” Trump wrote, adding that banks “should not be trying to undercut The Genius Act, or hold The Clarity Act hostage.”

The intervention is the most direct expression yet of presidential frustration with a standoff that has now paralysed the Senate Banking Committee for nearly two months.

Trump in fine form as always, Source: Truth Social

What the CLARITY Act Would Do

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — formally H.R. 3633 — passed the House of Representatives in July 2025 by a 294-134 vote, with notable bipartisan support. The bill would establish the first comprehensive federal framework for digital asset markets, resolving a long-standing jurisdictional dispute by granting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission exclusive oversight over digital commodity spot markets while preserving SEC authority over investment contract assets.

Its passage would, according to JPMorgan analysts, reduce regulatory ambiguity enough to encourage pension funds, insurers, and asset managers to move from exploratory crypto allocations into high-conviction positions — representing a potential influx of institutional capital that has remained sidelined for years.

The bill follows the GENIUS Act, which Trump signed into law in July 2025 and which established the first federal framework for payment stablecoins. Together, the two pieces of legislation represent the core of what the administration has described as its strategy to make the United States the global centre of the crypto economy.

Where It Has Stalled — and Why

Despite clearing the House comfortably, the CLARITY Act has been caught in Senate gridlock since January, when the Senate Banking Committee indefinitely postponed a planned markup vote following an eleventh-hour withdrawal of support by Coinbase over concerns about a proposed amendment relating to stablecoin interest payments.

The core dispute concerns whether crypto platforms should be permitted to offer yield or rewards to users who hold stablecoins. The GENIUS Act prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest, but left open a loophole that allows exchanges and intermediaries to do so. The banking industry has argued this omission threatens their deposit base, as yield-bearing stablecoins could compete directly with traditional savings products.

At two White House-brokered meetings in early February, bank representatives arrived with a document demanding a total ban on stablecoin yield — a position the crypto industry described as an attempt to eliminate competition rather than address legitimate stability concerns. No compromise emerged.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott has remained publicly optimistic, telling Fox Business that he expects the CLARITY Act to become law before the midterm elections. “When you look at market structure, the legislation itself, the one thing we can understand is that this is a generational shift,” Scott said. Separately, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has estimated 80 to 90 percent odds of the CLARITY Act passing by late April, urging banks to negotiate in good faith.

The Competitive Dimension

Trump’s reference to China is not rhetorical decoration. It reflects a genuine concern among U.S. crypto policymakers that regulatory delay is creating a vacuum that other jurisdictions are moving to fill.

The European Union’s MiCA framework is already operational. Hong Kong has an established stablecoin licensing regime. As of June 2025, Vietnam passed legislation creating a digital asset regulatory framework effective January 2026. Each of these moves represents a jurisdiction actively positioning itself to attract crypto infrastructure, talent, and capital that the U.S. has yet to formally accommodate.

Prediction markets have taken note. Polymarket currently prices the CLARITY Act’s likelihood of being signed into law in 2026 at 72%, up from approximately 62% a week prior. The Senate Banking Committee is reported to be targeting a mid-to-late March markup — a timeline that would allow for a full Senate floor vote before the legislative calendar tightens ahead of midterm campaigning.

What Comes Next

The immediate procedural hurdle is the Senate Banking Committee markup, which must be followed by reconciliation with a parallel bill from the Senate Agriculture Committee before any unified text can advance to a full Senate vote. That vote would then require the standard 60-vote threshold, meaning several Democratic senators will need to cross the aisle.

Baker McKenzie has noted the significance of the moment, describing the CLARITY Act delay as revealing a broader tension in how Washington approaches digital asset regulation — not ideological opposition, but a collision between two powerful and well-resourced industries with incompatible short-term interests.

For now, Trump’s public pressure has sharpened that collision into a presidential directive. Whether the banks move, the crypto industry concedes ground on yield, or a compromise text satisfies both remains the question the Senate Banking Committee will need to answer before spring.