Community banks, crypto industry ‘unite’ on CLARITY Act strike: Exec


The crypto leader has dismissed claims by the president of the Community Bank Association that any deal between the banking sector and the crypto industry on the US CLARITY Act would be a mistake.

“If community banks and crypto can’t find a way to work together, we already know who the winners are. It’s not community banks. It’s not consumers. It’s not the crypto industry,” Zero Knowledge Consulting founder Austin Campbell said in an X post on Friday.

“These are big banks,” Campbell said.

“There is a fine line between the value of community banks,” he said, explaining that they face technological and regulatory challenges that can be solved by stablecoins.

Big banks ‘fooled both sides’

“These are not enemies,” Campbell said of fixed income providers and community banks, adding that “they are allies.”

“The big banks and the banking lobbies they fund have tricked both sides into fighting each other so that the ultimate winner is the Jamie Dimon prize,” he said.

Cryptocurrencies, Banks, Acceptance, United States
Source: Patrick Witt

Campbell’s comments came in response to Texas Independent Bankers Association Christopher Williston, who said a compromise on the CLARITY Act debate would risk harming local lending and economic output.

“The fight for liquidity that powers the economies of the places we call home is insurmountable,” he said.

Banking lobby groups argue that if the CLARITY Act is passed in its current form, stablecoins could siphon deposits out of the banking system. Major US bank Standard Chartered recently estimated in a research note that increased stablecoin adoption could lead to a decline in US bank deposits, which would reduce “a third of the stablecoin market capitalization”.

The controversy also drew comments from the Trump family this week.

Eric Trump, the son of Donald Trump, the President of the United States, said on Thursday in an X message that the big banks are not acting in the interest of American citizens. “The big banks (think JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc.) are lobbying overtime to keep Americans from getting more returns on their savings.”

Donald Trump called for the bill to be passed “quickly”.

US President Donald Trump also criticized banks for stalling the Senate’s crypto market bill amid ongoing controversy over stablecoin revenue payments.

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“The U.S. needs to complete the market structure as soon as possible,” Trump said. “Banks are making record profits and we will not let them destroy our powerful Crypto agenda,” he said.

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