Svmuu News On Tuesday during early U.S. stock market trading, the stock price of USDC issuer Circle (CRCL) fell by up to 18%, while crypto platform Coinbase (COIN) dropped approximately 8%.
CoinDesk reported that the latest draft of the U.S. Clarity Act proposes to restrict rewards on stablecoin balances, including prohibiting rewards for passive stablecoin holdings and banning structures that are "economically equivalent to interest." Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev stated that the draft could prohibit payments of earnings solely for holding stablecoins and restrict any practices that make such programs equivalent to bank deposits in any aspect.
The report mentioned that the GENIUS Act previously prohibited issuers from directly paying yields to users, but issuers and platforms arranged rewards through methods like distributing earnings from reserve assets; among them, Circle earns interest on assets backing USDC and shares it with Coinbase, which then provides rewards to users. Keyrock digital asset researcher Amir Hajian indicated that the latest Clarity Act draft, by prohibiting arrangements "economically equivalent to interest," targets the aforementioned "earnings pass-through" model.
Furthermore, USDT issuer Tether announced it has hired one of the "Big Four" accounting firms to conduct a comprehensive audit of its USDT reserves. The report also noted that this decline occurred after Circle's stock price had surged 170% cumulatively since early February. Clear Street analyst Owen Lau suggested the market reaction might be excessive; market participants are also factoring in expectations for interest rate hikes. (CoinDesk)