It’s easy to read this as a fight over “stablecoin yield.” The real issue is whether stablecoins are allowed to compete with bank deposits.
“No person may provide any form of financial or non-financial consideration to a payment stablecoin holder in connection with the payment stablecoin holder’s purchase, use, ownership, possession, custody, holding, or retention of a payment stablecoin.”
That’s broader than “no interest.”
It bans any incentive tied to holding or using a stablecoin.
And the constraint is explicit:
Exemptions “must not drive deposit flight that would undercut Main Street lending.”
So the rule being negotiated isn’t about crypto risk. It’s about protecting the deposit base.
If holding a stablecoin can’t earn anything, it can’t replace a bank account.
This isn’t about “stablecoin yield.”
It’s about stopping deposit flight.
If stablecoins can pay anything, they compete with banks.
If they can’t, they’re just payment wrappers.
The rule tells you exactly what’s being protected.