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JPMorgan says CLARITY close to deal as stablecoin fight enters final stage

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No one is 100% happy with the stablecoin yield agreement: State of Crypto

Momentum is building in Washington for the long-awaited CLARITY Act, with JPMorgan (JPM) pointing to signs that negotiations may be nearing a breakthrough.

JPMorgan said discussions among lawmakers and regulators suggest the legislation is close to completion, with only a small number of issues still unresolved in a Wednesday report.

One senior policy official noted that the list of contentious items has narrowed from roughly a dozen to just “2–3 issues,” while debate around stablecoin rewards is now “in a good place.”

The CLARITY Act is designed to define how digital assets are regulated in the U.S., including how oversight is divided between agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It also addresses how stablecoins and decentralized finance platforms should be treated under existing financial rules.

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Lawmakers involved in the discussions struck an optimistic tone. A Senate staffer familiar with the process said the draft legislation is “very close,” with remaining questions around areas like DeFi oversight and token classification potentially resolved in the near term, according to the report.

One of the most closely watched debates centers on whether stablecoin issuers should be allowed to offer yield-like rewards to users. The issue has drawn pushback from banks, which argue such features could replicate deposit-taking without the same regulatory safeguards.

The latest proposals could find support from both crypto firms and traditional financial institutions, according to JPMorgan.

Still, the path forward is not without risk. The final legislative text has yet to be released and no formal vote has been scheduled. Timing is also a factor, with some policy experts warning that delays could push the bill into a more uncertain political environment.

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JPMorgan noted that the outlook for the 2026 midterm elections remains mixed, with expectations that Democrats could regain control of the House of Representatives. If that scenario plays out, crypto legislation could lose priority, potentially slowing further progress.

For now, the direction of travel appears clear. As one policy advisor put it, “there is no such thing as a perfect bill,” underscoring willingness among stakeholders to compromise in order to establish a workable framework.

If passed, the CLARITY Act would mark a major step toward integrating digital assets into the U.S. financial system, providing rules that industry participants have sought for years.

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Crypto World

Tether To Lead $150M Recovery Program for DeFi Platform Drift Protocol

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Tether To Lead $150M Recovery Program for DeFi Platform Drift Protocol

Stablecoin issuer Tether, the company behind USDt (USDT), said Thursday it will back a $150 million recovery program for the Drift Protocol decentralized exchange (DEX) following an exploit of the platform in April.

The recovery plan for the $280 million Drift Protocol exploit includes $127.5 million from Tether, with the rest coming from undisclosed partners, according to Tether’s announcement. Tether said:

“Rather than relying on upfront capital alone, the structure links funding and recovery to ongoing trading activity on the Drift platform, allowing user balances to be restored as the exchange returns to normal operations.”

The Drift Protocol platform will “contribute directly” to the ongoing recovery of user funds as the platform resumes normal trading activity. 

The top 10 crypto assets stolen from the Drift Protocol in the exploit. Source: Quill Audits

Drift will also transition its settlement asset from Circle’s USDC (USDC) dollar-pegged stablecoin to Tether’s USDt as part of the platform’s relaunch. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Tether but did not receive a response by the time of publication. 

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The recovery program highlights a growing trend of crypto industry companies collaborating to restore user funds and help platforms resume normal operations after major hacks or cybersecurity attacks that cause hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

Related: Drift sends onchain message to wallets tied to $280M exploit

Circle comes under fire for not freezing funds after Drift Protocol attack

Crypto industry executives, cybersecurity researchers and blockchain security firms criticized Circle for not freezing the USDC wallets linked to the Drift Protocol exploiter, despite having a window of several hours to intervene.

The exploiter used Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), a native bridge that allows tokens to be transferred to other blockchain networks, to transfer over $232 million USDC from the Solana network to the Ethereum network, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT.

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Cybercrime, Tether, Hacks, Stablecoin, DeFi
Source: ZachXBT

The funds were transferred in more than 100 transactions, he said, adding, “Despite the attacker laundering funds over six consecutive hours across Circle’s own native bridge, no USDC was frozen. The attacker has been linked to North Korea by Elliptic.” 

Circle’s stock sank by about 10% on April 9, following criticism over the company’s failure to freeze the funds from the hack and downgraded forecasts from market analysts. The NYSE-traded shares have since clawed back that decline, increasing about 20% as of yesterday’s close, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Magazine: Are DeFi devs liable for the illegal activity of others on their platforms?