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U.S. CLARITY Act stablecoin bill faces May delay amid bank pushback

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Revolut seeks US banking licence to expand services

U.S. CLARITY Act faces a May delay as banks fight stablecoin yields, clashing with a White House report that says the lending impact is just 0.02%.

Summary

  • U.S. CLARITY Act’s April committee review hangs in the balance as Senate Banking juggles Fed chair hearings and crypto legislation.
  • Banking groups lobby hard against stablecoin yield, clashing with a White House report that pegs lending impact at just 0.02%.
  • White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt publicly calls banks “greedy or ignorant” as pressure mounts to stop stalling the bill.

The U.S. CLARITY Act, a landmark effort to define stablecoin and broader crypto market structure, is at risk of being pushed from an expected April review into May as bank lobbying around stablecoin yield provisions intensifies on Capitol Hill.

According to newsletter outlet Crypto In America, the Senate Banking Committee has until Friday to decide whether to notice the bill for markup the week of April 27, but the calendar is already crowded by the confirmation hearing for Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh.

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In parallel, the North Carolina Bankers Association and other industry groups are urging members to call Senator Thom Tillis’s office and demand changes to the CLARITY Act’s proposed restrictions on yield-bearing stablecoins, reopening a compromise deal hammered out with crypto firms just weeks ago.

Banking trade bodies, including the American Bankers Association, have warned that allowing stablecoin rewards could drain up to $6.6 trillion in deposits from the banking system, arguing that yield-paying tokens would accelerate an exodus from traditional accounts.

That position sits uneasily with a recent report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, which concluded that banning stablecoin yields would boost bank lending by only $2.1 billion, or roughly 0.02% of a $12 trillion loan book, while imposing a net welfare cost of about $800 million on consumers.

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The CEA paper argued that a “yield prohibition would do very little to protect bank lending, while forgoing the consumer benefits of competitive returns on stablecoin holdings,” giving crypto and fintech advocates fresh ammunition against a blanket ban.

White House Crypto Council executive director Patrick Witt has taken that fight public, writing on X that banks are “further lobbying out of greed or ignorance” and urging lawmakers not to let the bill be “held hostage” by yield fears that the administration’s own data plays down.

Senator Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina and a key negotiator on the stablecoin language, has floated holding an in-person “crypto carnival” session with industry participants, a move he admits could extend the timeline but which he says is needed because “there are still issues to negotiate.”

Beyond yield, the CLARITY Act still has to navigate contentious provisions around DeFi, conflicts of interest and ethical rules for lawmakers trading tokens, and even if it clears the Senate Banking Committee in late April or May it must still be reconciled with a House version before landing on President Trump’s desk.

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As highlighted in an earlier crypto.news story on how 2025 would make tokenized real-world assets mainstream, the fight over stablecoin yields is increasingly seen as a proxy for who captures trillions in future onchain savings flows, with banks, issuers and DeFi platforms all jockeying for control of the same digital dollar stack.

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A US-Iran Peace Deal May Not Be Enough To Save the Oil Market Now: Here’s Why

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A US-Iran Peace Deal May Not Be Enough To Save the Oil Market Now: Here’s Why

HFI Research has stated that the oil market has passed its breaking point, which was projected around mid-April

The analysis argues that these inventory draws will occur regardless of any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, driven by structural and logistical constraints. This comes amid notable uncertainty around the diplomatic efforts to resolve the US–Iran war.

Why a Peace Deal May Not Reverse the Oil Market Shock

HFI explained that even with a US-Iran peace deal, oil market recovery would be delayed by logistical bottlenecks. An estimated 160 million barrels of floating storage in tankers would begin discharging. However, transit and offloading alone would take 30–40 days, with tanker turnaround requiring an additional 20 days. 

Meanwhile, around 70 very large crude carriers (VLCCs) en route to load US crude for Asia face a much longer cycle. It would take 6–8 weeks for loading, 45–50 days for transit, and another 20–25 days to offload and return. 

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“In total, we will not see meaningful tanker traffic back in the Strait of Hormuz from this entourage for at least 3 months,” the blog read. 

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Onshore constraints in the Middle East further complicate the recovery. The region holds 600 million barrels in onshore storage. Producers need roughly 200 million barrels drained before they can restart output. 

That would take at least 100 VLCC. However, current tanker activity suggests this rebalancing may not occur until mid-to-late June at the earliest.

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“Once the onshore crude storage drains, we need a steady flow of tankers coming to through the Strait of Hormuz to pick up crude. By this point, producers like Saudi, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, and Bahrain can restart. This process will take a few more weeks all but guaranteeing that the lack of supply continues,” HFI Research added.

The report highlighted that cumulative storage lost due to the closure already totals roughly 1 billion barrels, rising to 1.98 billion by the end of June.

According to HFI, given the limited commercially available crude to offset such losses, the market may require demand destruction to restore equilibrium. If the Strait remains closed beyond April, oil prices could move into uncharted territory, with traditional pricing mechanisms breaking down.

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The post A US-Iran Peace Deal May Not Be Enough To Save the Oil Market Now: Here’s Why appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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The KelpDAO thieves just moved $175 million as the laundering process begins

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The KelpDAO thieves just moved $175 million as the laundering process begins

The hackers that stole $290 million in the KelpDAO exploit are beginning to launder their ill-gotten gains, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT and data from Arkham.

Arkham shows that the wallet in control of the proceeds of the exploit sent two transfers of $117 million and $58 million on the Ethereum blockchain during European hours on Tuesday.

ZachXBT reported that a portion of the stolen funds has already begun moving across chains. Roughly $1.5 million was bridged from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, alongside an additional $78,000 routed through the privacy protocol Umbra. North Korean hackers Lazarus Group have previously used protocols like Thorchain to launder funds.

Cross-chain routing and privacy tools are commonly used in the early ‘layering’ stage of laundering, suggesting the attacker may be preparing to further disperse the funds across multiple venues.

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The KelpDAO exploit is one of the largest decentralized finance breaches in recent months, spurring a wave of negative sentiment across the DeFi sector and fears over contagion will spread to other blockchains.

Layer 2 network Arbitrum said Monday it had frozen $71 million in ether linked to the hack, a move that could pressure the exploiter to accelerate efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.

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Bank of Korea Governor Supports CBDCs, Deposit Tokens in First Speech

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Bank of Korea Governor Supports CBDCs, Deposit Tokens in First Speech

The newly appointed Governor of the Bank of Korea, Shin Hyun-song, has voiced support for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenized deposits in his first public address.

Shin, who began his four-year term after an inauguration ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday, said the central bank will advance the second phase of “Project Hangang,” a Bank of Korea-led pilot project to test a blockchain-based, wholesale CBDC system.

He also pointed to international cooperation efforts, including the “Agora Project,” an international collaborative initiative launched in April 2024 by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and seven central banks to explore the tokenization of cross-border payments. Shin said these initiatives “will elevate the status of the Korean won in the digital payment environment.”

While previous reports had suggested Shin was open to won-based stablecoins, he did not mention stablecoins in his inaugural speech.

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South Korea’s stablecoin bill remains stalled, with regulators and lawmakers split over whether issuance of won-pegged tokens should be limited to commercial banks or opened up to non-bank players such as fintech and tech firms.

Related: South Korea draft bill puts stablecoins, RWAs under finance laws: Report

Shin flags geopolitical risks

Shin also mentioned rising tensions in the Middle East and its effect on oil prices, saying that the Bank of Korea must adapt to rising uncertainty driven by geopolitical shocks, inflation pressures and shifts in the global economy.

“We must strive for price and financial stability through the operation of prudent and flexible monetary policy,” he said.

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Top Korean crypto exchanges. Source: CoinGecko

Shin was the BIS economic adviser from May 2014 to March 2026 and also served as head of the Monetary and Economic Department from January 2025, according to the BIS website.

Last month, he published an academic paper arguing that stablecoins fail to meet a core property of money, “unity,” because blockchain networks are inherently fragmented across different chains with varying fees, security and decentralisation levels.

Related: Naver-Dunamu filing sets IPO committee, listing timeline for fintech group

South Korea to test tokenized deposits for government spending

South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance is preparing to test blockchain-based payments for selected government expenses as part of a regulatory sandbox exploring distributed ledger technology in public finance.

The pilot will use tokenized deposits to execute government operational spending, with a full rollout targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026. The initial phase will be launched in Sejong City and will include conditions such as limits on timing and spending categories.

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Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?