A new legislative draft tied to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, reviewed by industry leaders on March 23, 2026, outlines significant restrictions on yield-bearing stablecoins. The proposal, highlighted by journalist Eleanor Terrett, aims to prohibit platforms from offering any yield on stablecoins that resembles traditional bank deposit interest, whether directly or indirectly.
The draft explicitly bans any mechanism considered "economically or functionally equivalent" to interest, applying broadly to digital asset service providers including exchanges and brokers. This provision is designed to prevent firms from circumventing the rule through alternative structures, effectively blocking fixed or predictable yield models that have been common in the crypto space.
However, the proposal carves out an exception for activity-based rewards. Incentives tied to user behavior—such as loyalty programs, promotions, staking participation, transaction usage, or ecosystem engagement—would remain permitted, provided they do not depend on user balances or transaction amounts and do not resemble interest mechanisms.
The draft directs a trio of U.S. regulatory agencies—the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the U.S. Treasury—to define the specifics of permissible rewards and establish anti-evasion rules within one year. This move signals a coordinated regulatory approach to stablecoin incentives.
Industry reaction has been mixed. One leader noted the "economic equivalence" standard could allow for stricter future interpretations by regulators, while another called the overall approach more restrictive than earlier discussions with the White House. The proposal marks an evolution from the earlier framework introduced by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks and is now set for review by bank representatives.
