‘Compromise is in the air’: Ripple CLO signals progress on crypto bill

The White House made a second attempt to broker a stablecoin yield compromise to advance the crypto market structure bill, the CLARITY Act.

At the meeting held on the 10th of February, attendees, including banks and crypto industry representatives, shared mixed opinions, with some describing the discussions as “productive.”

According to the reporter Eleanor Terrett, specifics of a stablecoin yield deal were also discussed, with the banks’ side enlisting ‘interest prohibition’ principles. 

Additionally, the banks sought to narrow the ‘permissible activities’ that could attract stablecoin rewards. In contrast, crypto players want expanded coverage for rewards. 

Mixed reactions to White House meeting

At the end of the discussion, no deal was reached, but Ripple’s chief legal officer (CLO), Stuart Alderoty, said, 

He urged his colleagues to fast-track the bill now when the window is still open. Coinbase’s legal chief, Paul Grewal, echoed Alderoty’s sentiments, and Miles Jennings, policy chief at a16z, also supported his stance. Worth pointing out that these three firms are the largest donors behind crypto’s super PAC Fairshake.

Although a16z and Ripple disagreed with Coinbase’s withdrawal of support for the bill in mid-January, it was unclear whether they were all on the same page with the so-called stablecoin yield compromise. 

Other crypto founders, like BitGo’s Mike Belshe, called out negotiation teams for using stablecoin yield to stall the bill. He said, 

For their part, banks present at the meeting maintained that the bill must not undermine banks’ deposits. Part of their statement read, 

CLARITY Act’s path forward is unclear

This was the second meeting after another unsuccessful discussion held on the 2nd of February to restart the stalled bill. The White House has reportedly instructed the two industries to reach a deal by the 1st of March. 

However, the market expectations were also mixed according to prediction markets.

On Polymarket, the odds of passage for the CLARITY Act in 2026 remained unchanged at 56%. In fact, this was down from 72% following a recent Senate Democrats meeting on the bill. 

In contrast, Kalshi bettors immediately priced a 72% chance of such an outcome after the meeting. However, they later repriced the passage odds to 59%. Put differently, at the time of writing, the market wasn’t sure whether the bill would become law this year. 

Final Thoughts 

• The latest White House meeting on stablecoin yield was ‘productive’ but elicited mixed reactions from crypto leaders. 
• The market remained uncertain whether a deal could be reached by early March to fast-track passage of the CLARITY Act this year.