A crypto executive pushed back against a community banking leader’s warning that any compromise over the U.S. CLARITY Act would be harmful to local lenders. Austin Campbell, founder of Zero Knowledge Consulting, wrote on X that community banks and crypto firms need to find ways to cooperate — otherwise the biggest beneficiaries will be large banks, not consumers or local institutions. Campbell argued stablecoins could help community banks address technological and regulatory challenges and described stablecoin-yield providers and community banks as ‘allies.’ He accused big banks and their lobbyists of pitting the two sides against each other so the ultimate winner is ‘Jamie Dimon’s bonus.’
Campbell’s remarks were a response to Christopher Williston, president of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, who warned concessions in the CLARITY Act debate would threaten local lending and economic activity. Williston wrote that ‘it’s simply impossible to roll over in the fight for liquidity that powers the economies of the places we call home.’
Banking trade groups have cautioned that the bill in its current form could allow stablecoins to siphon deposits from the traditional banking system. A recent research note from Standard Chartered estimated that rising stablecoin adoption could reduce U.S. bank deposits by roughly ‘one-third of stablecoin market cap.’
The debate has drawn attention from the Trump family as well. Eric Trump accused major banks of lobbying to block Americans from earning higher savings yields, while former President Donald Trump criticized banks for stalling the Senate’s market-structure bill amid disagreements over stablecoin yield payments and urged lawmakers to pass market-structure reforms ‘ASAP,’ saying banks are reporting record profits and should not be allowed to undermine the administration’s crypto agenda.