Bessent Calls for Clarity Act Passage Now: White House Economists Say No Bank Run Risk (CEA Data)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has issued a forceful call for Congress to pass the Clarity Act, arguing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that comprehensive crypto market regulation is essential to maintaining leadership in the global financial market.

The announcement comes as the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) released a groundbreaking studyundercutting one of the final obstacles to the bill’s passage: banking industry warnings that stablecoin rewards would trigger massive deposit flight .

“The window is closing,” Bessent wrote, urging lawmakers to act before the legislative calendar becomes consumed by midterm election politics .

Clarity Act News: Why the Stablecoin Yield Debate Has Deadlocked Congress

For months, negotiations over the Clarity Act have been deadlocked over a single question: Should stablecoin holders be allowed to earn yield?

The banking lobby has warned that permitting rewards on stablecoins could drain up to $1.3 trillion in deposits from community banks, reducing lending by as much as $850 billion .

The CEA’s new report systematically dismantles that argument.

White House Economic Analysis: CEA Data Shows Bank Run Fears Are Overblown

Using a baseline economic model, White House economists found that eliminating stablecoin yield would increase bank lending by just $2.1 billion — a mere 0.02% of total loans — while imposing a net welfare cost of $800 million on consumers .

“In short, a yield prohibition would do very little to protect bank lending, while forgoing the consumer benefits of competitive returns on stablecoin holdings,” the report states .

Even under the most extreme “worst-case” assumptions — including the stablecoin market growing to six times its current size — the model produced only $531 billion in additional lending, or a 4.4% increase in bank loans. The CEA described such conditions as “implausible” .

Clarity Act 2026: What's Inside the Bill and When Will It Pass?

The Clarity Act aims to establish a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets, covering stablecoin oversight, token classification, and market structure. Industry observers say the bill is now closer than ever to passage.

The bill has already cleared the Senate Banking Committee and is expected to move toward a floor vote before the end of April, according to Senator Cynthia Lummis. Polymarket bettors currently place the odds of the bill becoming law in 2026 at 62%.

Crypto Market Reaction: Circle Stock Pops 7% as Bank Lobby Argument Crumbles

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal celebrated the White House report on social media, writing: “We now know why stablecoin rewards critics wanted it suppressed. The most respected economists in the government found nothing that shows rewards cause deposit ‘flight.’ Facts are hard sometimes” .

The market has responded in kind. Circle (CRCL) stock surged more than 7% in pre-market trading on April 8, breaking above $100 per share for the first time since late March. The stock had previously dropped on concerns that the Clarity Act would restrict stablecoin yield — fears now substantially allayed .

WisdomTree’s digital assets head Will Peck, while supportive of the bill’s intent, cautioned that the industry has not been waiting on legislation to innovate. “We don’t believe the act is a threshold,” Peck said, noting that his firm has already launched spot Bitcoin ETFs and tokenized money market funds under existing SEC frameworks .

Clarity Act Vote Timeline: Why the Next 3 Weeks Matter

Time is not on the bill’s side. Democrats are widely expected to make gains in the upcoming midterm elections, potentially freezing major legislative action until after the 2028 presidential election.

With the White House now formally aligned with the crypto industry on the yield question and the banking lobby’s primary argument refuted by the administration’s own economists, the path forward appears clear. The remaining sticking points include DeFi regulation, tokenization frameworks, and digital asset classification.

As Bessent framed it in his WSJ op-ed: the choice is between leadership in the digital economy or watching innovation flee to jurisdictions with clearer rules.

This is a developing story. The Clarity Act is expected to move toward a Senate floor vote in late April. Check back for updates.

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