Senate to vote Sept. 15 on stablecoin rewards

Senators will hold a cloture vote on Sept. 15 on whether exchanges and other platforms may continue offering rewards on stablecoin balances. The vote is on a motion to proceed that requires 60 votes to move the CLARITY Act to the Senate floor.

The GENIUS Act bars permitted payment stablecoin issuers from paying holders interest or yield solely for holding a token, but it does not classify exchanges, wallets and other trading platforms as issuers. That gap has allowed firms to offer reward programs that pay customers for keeping dollar-pegged tokens on their platforms.

Some platforms, including major exchanges, currently offer rewards on USDC and other dollar-pegged tokens. Banks and bank trade groups argue those programs act like savings returns and pull deposits away from traditional lenders. The American Bankers Association has urged Senate leaders to close any route that lets platforms replicate bank-like returns through rewards or similar arrangements.

Crypto firms and platforms describe rewards as loyalty or activity incentives paid on customer-owned funds rather than interest on deposits. They contend that a broad ban on platform rewards would limit competitive options for customers.

Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Thom Tillis negotiated compromise language that passed the Senate Banking Committee 15–9 on May 14, 2026. The compromise would bar payments made solely for holding a stablecoin and programs economically equivalent to bank interest while permitting rewards tied to transactions, spending or loyalty activity, subject to future rulemaking. That text is the version most likely to reach the floor if cloture succeeds.

Majority Leader John Thune filed the cloture motion Aug. 8, setting the Sept. 15 vote. Legislative aides say if cloture fails the bill is unlikely to advance further this year because of a tight Senate calendar and the approaching election recess. Two other outstanding issues — ethics limits on officials profiting from digital assets and the scope of liability protections for software developers — could also block the votes needed to proceed.

Regulators have proposed actions that could affect the same issue. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has proposed a rule creating a rebuttable presumption that arrangements routing yield through affiliates or third parties violate the issuer prohibition. Agency action could narrow the gap in practice without new legislation, but it would follow a different rulemaking process than Congress.

The practical effects depend on the outcome of the cloture vote. Under the compromise already approved by committee, programs that pay solely for holding a balance would be prohibited while activity-linked incentives would remain allowed. If the Senate adds broader language favoring banks, platform rewards could be banned entirely. If cloture fails, the current law remains in place: issuers cannot pay yield, and platforms are not barred from offering rewards. Any yield received today is a payment from a platform and reflects that platform’s credit and operational risk rather than a feature of the token itself.