CLARITY Act Stablecoin Yield: White House CEA Flags Limited Bank Impact

The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) released an April 9, 2026 analysis arguing that a “stablecoin yield” allowance under the CLARITY Act would only cause marginal displacement of US bank lending. The CEA estimates loan growth of about $2.1B (around 0.02%), contradicting banking-industry claims of systemic deposit flight. The paper says that when consumers buy stablecoins, funds are typically routed into Treasury bills and then redeposited into the banking system, keeping aggregate deposits largely unchanged. Even in an extreme scenario where stablecoin demand grows sixfold, the CEA projects only a limited lending boost (capped at single digits), calling broader “implausible” lending displacement fears. Policy context remains the key driver. The July 2025 GENIUS Act requires 1:1 reserves and bars issuers from passing reserve yield to token holders, but it leaves room for exchanges to offer rewards tied to stablecoin balances—an approach Coinbase previously used via USDC rewards. The report therefore re-energizes the CLARITY Act yield debate impacting USDC and yield-bearing stablecoin products. Coinbase legal chief Paul Grewal said the findings undermine the “deposit flight” narrative. A White House-brokered, not-yet-formalized bridge with Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks is reportedly intended to unblock negotiations, but Senate Banking Committee timing is still uncertain—keeping headline-driven volatility a risk for USDC.