U.S. banking groups have urged regulators to clearly extend anti-money laundering rules for stablecoins beyond issuance to secondary market trading. The crypto industry has pushed back, warning that imposing responsibility for transactions issuers cannot control could shrink the DeFi ecosystem. The debate centres on who should monitor transfers after issuance, including movements between exchanges, DeFi protocols and private wallets, and how far regulatory responsibility should reach.

The U.S. Senate will resume discussions this week on the CLARITY bill, a digital asset market-structure measure. The biggest variable is expected to be ethics provisions addressing conflicts of interest for elected officials involved in crypto, rather than the bill’s regulatory content. Democrats say they may withhold support without such language, while some Republicans want the issue handled separately. Banks also object to parts of the text, adding uncertainty to prospects for passage.