Senate CLARITY Act Compromise Draft Seeks Middle Ground on Stablecoins, DeFi

# Senate CLARITY Act Compromise Draft Seeks Middle Ground on Stablecoins, DeFi

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: Independent payments trade media analysis of a Senate compromise draft
> Source: [PYMNTS](https://www.pymnts.com/legal/2026/senate-clarity-act-compromise-draft-seeks-middle-ground-on-stablecoins-defi)
> Published: 2026-08-07
> Captured: 2026-08-07T15:39:28.279Z

## Source summary

PYMNTS, citing an Ashurst Perkins Coie analysis, reports that the Senate CLARITY Act compromise draft would generally prohibit interest or yield paid solely for holding payment stablecoins, while allowing activity-based rewards tied to payments, remittances, liquidity, staking or loyalty programs when they are not equivalent to bank-deposit interest. The Senate postponed consideration until September.

## Why it matters

The distinction could materially affect how stablecoin wallets, remittance products and payment platforms design rewards without being treated like deposit products. It is still a compromise draft, not enacted law or a final rule; wording, timing and enforcement could change, and no provider has yet demonstrated a compliant implementation under this text.

## Key numbers

- **Maximum civil penalty described for knowing violations:** $5 million

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Web3 & stablecoin payments
- Entities: US Senate / CLARITY Act
- Web3 payments
- Cross-border payments
- Payment infrastructure

## Evidence and credibility note

Independent PYMNTS analysis citing a law-firm review of a Senate compromise draft. The proposal has not been enacted and Senate consideration is delayed until at least September.

Date evidence: Automatically verified from article:published_time: 2026-08-07T15:14:21+00:00

## First-party corroboration

No directly corresponding A1 company announcement is currently linked.

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original PYMNTS report](https://www.pymnts.com/legal/2026/senate-clarity-act-compromise-draft-seeks-middle-ground-on-stablecoins-defi)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.