Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has backed passage of the CLARITY Act while continuing to push for changes to its stablecoin reward rules, keeping the banking industry’s main concern with the crypto bill alive ahead of a Senate procedural vote expected next month.

Fraser told Fox Business on Thursday that Citigroup still wants lawmakers to improve parts of the legislation, but she supports getting a workable version through Congress because she believes the bill would benefit the financial system.

“So, we have not given up on pushing to get some improvements made to the bill, but we would like to see a good bill go through,” Fraser said. “I think it would be excellent for the system.”

Her support puts Citigroup in a less confrontational position than some other large banks, even as Fraser shares their concern over whether crypto platforms should be allowed to offer rewards tied to stablecoins.

Citigroup CEO says stablecoin rewards could affect bank deposits

Fraser’s main concern centers on the effect that stablecoin rewards could have on deposits held by U.S. banks, particularly institutions that rely on those funds to finance lending in communities with fewer credit options.

“If you are having a reward system on deposits, it could have a detrimental impact on their deposits, and therefore their ability to provide lending and access to credit in parts of the U.S. that crypto won’t reach, and frankly, the large banks don’t reach,” Fraser said. “So, I am worried about it from that perspective.”

Banking groups have made a similar argument during negotiations over the CLARITY Act. In July, the American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America and 76 state banking associations asked Senate leaders to tighten Section 404 before the legislation reached the floor.

As crypto.news reported in July, the groups warned that unclear reward provisions could encourage customers to move money from traditional bank accounts into payment stablecoins, reducing the deposits available to community lenders.

The dispute stems partly from the way stablecoin rewards are structured. The GENIUS Act, passed in 2025, prevents payment stablecoin issuers from directly paying interest or yield to holders. Crypto exchanges and other service providers, however, have used rewards programs that can pass benefits to users through arrangements not directly offered by the stablecoin issuer.

Banking groups have argued that customers may see little practical difference between interest paid by a bank and rewards received for keeping stablecoins on a crypto platform.

CLARITY Act compromise allows activity-based rewards

Senators Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., have tried to address the dispute through compromise language that separates passive yield from rewards linked to actual platform activity.

The proposal bars platforms from paying rewards simply because a customer holds a stablecoin. It still permits certain incentives connected with transactions, payments and other qualifying activities.

The compromise language circulated among crypto and banking representatives earlier this year after Tillis and Alsobrooks reached an agreement in principle in March. The draft prohibited passive yield while retaining activity-based rewards tied to payments, transfers or platform use.

A revised 309-page version released by the Senate Banking Committee in May retained that basic structure, allowing activity-based stablecoin rewards while prohibiting passive yield for simply holding the asset.

Lawmakers developed the language after months of disagreement between banks and crypto companies over whether third-party rewards would undermine the restrictions already placed on stablecoin issuers.

Banking groups remained dissatisfied after the compromise emerged. The American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, Consumer Bankers Association, Financial Services Forum and Independent Community Bankers of America said in May that the revised provisions still did not adequately protect deposits.

The groups argued that incentives calculated using factors such as balances or holding periods could function much like deposit interest even if they were formally presented as rewards.

Crypto companies have taken the opposite position, arguing that restrictions extending beyond passive interest would prevent platforms from rewarding customers for legitimate activity.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said during the May negotiations that banks had secured tighter restrictions while the compromise preserved rewards tied to actual use of crypto platforms and networks.

Stablecoin yield fight has divided banks and crypto firms

The dispute has become one of the most persistent issues surrounding the CLARITY Act, with banking organizations warning about deposit losses while crypto firms have pushed to preserve rewards that do not amount to passive interest.

Earlier this year, banking groups stepped up their lobbying as lawmakers prepared the legislation for Senate consideration. An American Bankers Association campaign sent thousands of messages to Senate offices as the industry sought changes to the stablecoin provisions.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan has previously estimated that as much as $6 trillion could eventually move from bank deposits into stablecoins under a regulatory structure that lets the tokens compete more directly for customer cash.

The banking industry’s concerns extend to the lending consequences of such an outflow. Banks use deposits as a source of funding for mortgages, business loans and other credit, while stablecoin reserves are commonly held in cash, short-term U.S. Treasuries and similar liquid assets.

Crypto industry representatives dispute the scale of the risk. The White House Council of Economic Advisers challenged the deposit argument in April, estimating that prohibiting stablecoin yield would increase traditional bank lending by about $2.1 billion, or roughly 0.02% of total loans.

The council estimated that 76% of the additional lending associated with a yield ban would flow through large banks, undercutting claims that restrictions were primarily needed to protect smaller community institutions.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has also argued that banks are seeking to limit competition from stablecoins. During the negotiations, he accused large banks of trying to prevent consumers from receiving returns generated by stablecoin reserve assets.

Under the 2025 GENIUS Act framework, issuers must maintain qualifying reserves for payment stablecoins and cannot directly pay holders interest. Platforms such as Coinbase have offered rewards through separate programs, making the treatment of third-party incentives a central issue in the CLARITY Act talks.

Jamie Dimon has taken a harder position on the CLARITY Act

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has gone further than Fraser in opposing the legislation as currently written.

During a Fox Business interview in May, Dimon said banks would fight the CLARITY Act because he believed its stablecoin provisions allowed crypto firms to provide interest-like returns without protections comparable to those imposed on banks. He said the industry would continue opposing the legislation even if it ultimately lost the vote.

Dimon also criticized Armstrong’s lobbying campaign during the interview, calling the Coinbase CEO “full of sh–” after the host referred to Armstrong’s claim that he represented the crypto industry’s position.

Fraser’s comments leave Citigroup supporting passage while seeking changes to the same issue that has driven much of the banking industry’s opposition.

The next procedural test is expected after lawmakers return from the Senate’s August recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has scheduled a cloture vote for Sept. 15, moving the initial vote into September after earlier delays.

World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency project backed by the Trump family, delayed plans to sell a token related to a resort in the Maldives, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

The token was planned to go on sale next year, giving investors a share of revenue from loans financing the Trump-branded resort, but this has been pushed back due to the Iran war disrupting travel in the region, according to the report, citing people familiar with the matter.

World Liberty Financial tapped real-world asset (RWAs) platform Securitize in February to help represent loan interests tied to the resort’s development as a digital token that could be traded onchain.

It is unclear when the token will now be listed.

The venture is part World Liberty Financial’s plans in tokenization, the representation of RWAs on blockchains in token form. WLFI is exploring this concept not just in real estate, but in commodities like oil and gas.

A World Liberty Financial spokesperson declined to comment, according to Bloomberg’s report. The company did not immediately respond when contacted by CoinDesk for additional comment.

The protocol’s native token WLFI rose by 2.7% on the news before giving back all of the gains and returning to parity. It is now down by 88.5% from its record high in September, 2025.

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Scan the news and there are plenty of reasons for worry: continued U.S.-Iran escalation risks, mounting sovereign debt and rising bond yields among them. Crypto carries its own set of concerns, including regulatory disappointments, weak demand and hack risks.

Yet crypto, stocks, bonds and even commodity markets remain sanguine. That is clear from implied-volatility readings across these markets. Implied volatility is a measure of expected price turbulence, and is calculated from the demand for options and other derivatives used to hedge against wild swings and uncertainty.

Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, has dropped back to a 2026-low near 36%, reversing the minor pop to nearly 38% earlier this week, according to data source TradingView. The same is true for ether, the second-largest digital asset market value.

Wall Street’s VIX index, often called a “fear gauge” tracking uncertainty and volatility in the S&P 500, has declined to the lowest level since January. The Treasury market equivalent, MOVE, is also under pressure, hovering near the lower end of its multi-month range of 66% to 84%. Even gold and oil volatility indexes are falling.

Stablecoin payments company RedotPay delayed a planned $1 billion U.S. IPO to deal with legal issues, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the decision.

The listing, initially planned for this year, is unlikely to take place before 2027, the people told the financial news organization.

“Our strategy continues to focus on global regulatory compliance and business growth,” a RedotPay spokesperson told CoinDesk via Telegram. “This week we obtained a money transmitter license in the U.S. We are preparing to launch our product in the U.S.”

The spokesperson declined to comment on the IPO plan, which emerged in February. Hong Kong-based RedotPay is said to have tapped JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Jeffries for the potential listing. 

RedotPay, which describes itself as the world’s largest stablecoin payment card issuer, faces a $470 million lawsuit lodged by Binance in Hong Kong alleging that it poached roughly 470,000 users when both firms had an agreement. Under the accord, the crypto exchange allowed its customers to use Binance Pay funds on RedotPay to convert crypto to fiat currency. Binance filed a parallel case in Singapore.

The RedotPay spokesperson said the company, which hit unicorn status in September, reported a record-high 8.5 million users in the second quarter and a record $180 million in annualized revenue. It reported nearly $12 billion in annualized revenue and 8 million users in the first quarter.

RedotPay has reportedly delayed a planned US initial public offering that could raise more than $1 billion as the Hong Kong stablecoin payments company works through regulatory approvals and legal disputes while preparing to enter the US market.

Bloomberg reported on Aug. 14, citing people familiar with the matter, that RedotPay had pushed back its listing plans as the company seeks regulatory approvals and deals with legal disputes involving Binance.

A spokesperson for RedotPay declined to comment on the timing of the IPO when contacted by crypto.news, but said the company had secured a US money transmitter license this week and was preparing to launch its products in the country.

“Our strategy continues to focus on global regulatory compliance and business growth,” the spokesperson said. “This week, we obtained a money transmitter license in the US. We are preparing to launch our product in the US.”

The spokesperson also said RedotPay reported record users, revenue, profit and margins in its Q2 2026 investor update, without providing figures for the period.

RedotPay IPO plans have faced a delay

RedotPay’s potential US listing first emerged in February, when the company was reported to be considering a New York IPO that could raise more than $1 billion and value the payments firm at over $4 billion.

At the time, previous coverage showed that RedotPay was working with JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies Financial Group on the proposed transaction, with a listing considered possible during 2026.

Founded in Hong Kong in April 2023, RedotPay provides stablecoin-based payment services, including crypto payment cards, multicurrency wallets and global payouts. By February, the company had more than 6 million users across over 100 markets and was processing billions of dollars in annualized payment volume.

The firm had also raised $194 million during 2025. A $107 million Series B financing led its December funding round, with Goodwater Capital, Pantera Capital and Blockchain Capital among its backers.

Before the Series B, RedotPay secured $40 million in a Series A round backed by Lightspeed, Galaxy and HongShan. The financing helped the company reach unicorn status before reports about its potential US listing surfaced.

RedotPay has separately been discussing another private funding round of as much as $150 million, according to earlier reports. The talks have taken place while the company adjusts its organizational structure and continues preparations for a possible public offering.

“As we transition from an early-stage startup to a unicorn, we are evolving our organizational structure and talent pool to support our ongoing growth trajectory,” the company said in March.

Binance lawsuit has added a $473 million dispute

Alongside the regulatory work needed for its US expansion, RedotPay is facing claims from Binance affiliates in Hong Kong seeking nearly $473 million in damages.

The Binance-linked plaintiffs sued RedotPay’s founders earlier in August, alleging they used confidential information obtained during their previous employment with Binance to establish a competing payments company and move hundreds of thousands of Binance customers to the new platform.

According to the claims, the confidential material was allegedly used to help RedotPay build its payments business and attract users who previously used Binance. RedotPay has rejected the allegations and said it would “vigorously defend all claims.”

The dispute also extends to Singapore, where the two companies have offered conflicting accounts of the status of a related case.

RedotPay said earlier this week that it expected Binance to discontinue the Singapore proceedings following an Aug. 7 hearing. Binance disputed that account and said it had not withdrawn its claims.

Legal pressure around Binance has extended into several markets during 2026. In July, nearly 1,700 British investors filed a London lawsuit seeking at least £150 million, or roughly $200 million, from Binance, founder Changpeng Zhao and other defendants over alleged losses linked to crypto derivatives.

The UK claim alleges that leveraged tokens, futures and options were offered without the required regulatory authorization. Binance said it would defend itself against the allegations.

US launch adds to RedotPay’s payment expansion

While its IPO timetable has reportedly been pushed back, RedotPay’s newly obtained money transmitter license gives the company another regulatory approval as it prepares to offer its services in the US.

The company has already been extending its stablecoin payment services into other markets. In June 2025, RedotPay launched payments in Brazil after integrating Circle Payments Network into its platform.

The service allowed users to send crypto directly to Brazilian bank accounts, where the assets were automatically converted into Brazilian reais. RedotPay had more than 4 million users when the Brazil service was introduced.

Circle’s network was used to handle the crypto-to-fiat payment process without requiring prefunded accounts between participating institutions. RedotPay CEO Michael Gao said at the time that the Brazil launch was focused on reducing the cost and time involved in payments for users in emerging markets.

The company has since continued building its user base and payment infrastructure while pursuing licenses in jurisdictions where it plans to operate.

For its next expansion, RedotPay has not provided a launch date for its US product. The spokesperson said preparations are underway following the money transmitter license approval, while the company continues to focus on regulatory compliance and business growth.

RedotPay has also not disclosed when it could revive the delayed IPO process or whether its reported discussions with JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies remain unchanged.

[Update, Aug. 14, 07:56 UTC: This article was updated to clarify Andre Cronje’s role in developing Fantom’s working network and his former role as Sonic Labs chief technology officer.]

Most decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are no longer truly decentralized, according to Andre Cronje, founder of DeFi platform Flying Tulip and the technical architect who led the development of Fantom’s working network.

“I don’t think DeFi exists anymore outside of those very small niches,” Cronje told Cointelegraph during Thursday’s Chain Reaction X Spaces show. 

He argued that “true DeFi” needs to be decentralized, immutable and without an intermediary, adding: “That statement isn’t really true for pretty much any other protocols running today.”

It’s an idea that Cronje has been raising for months. Earlier this year, he said much of DeFi is “no longer DeFi” in the strict sense, as builders debate whether circuit breakers and other emergency controls are now necessary to protect users from exploits. 

Total value locked (TVL) in DeFi more than halved over the past 10 months, to $75 billion at the time of writing from $167 billion in early October 2025, according to DefiLlama. 

DeFi TVL, all-time chart. Source: DefiLlama

He’s not alone in this thinking. The European Central Bank has also questioned whether decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are sufficiently decentralized to remain outside regulators’ scope. In a March working paper, the ECB looked at Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth and Uniswap and found that the top 100 governance token holders controlled more than 80% of the supply in each protocol, based on holdings snapshots from November 2022 and May 2023.

The ECB authors said these findings call into question the inherent decentralization of DAOs and whether they should remain outside of the bloc’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) as “fully decentralized” services.

Related: Wintermute to pour $1B into AI, high-frequency trading amid TradFi expansion: Report

DeFi departed from decentralization

Cronje contended that DeFi departed from its inherent decentralization into a new financial paradigm called “onchain finance or open finance.”  To support this, he said:

“We’ve long since moved on from [DeFi]. Because your intermediary now is a company, it’s a decision maker, it’s a curator, it’s a risk committee, it’s all the traditional kind of things we saw in banking. ” 

However, Cronje argued that this doesn’t exclude the existence of true DeFi and added that he still sees true innovation among some DeFi protocols.

Cronje is among the most respected founders in DeFi. The Sonic blockchain, whose design and development Cronje led as Sonic Labs chief technology officer, claims to be the fastest Ethereum Virtual Machine chain that reached a “true” 720-millisecond finality in a testnet environment.

Previously, Cronje founded Yearn.finance and the Keep3r Network.

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