Speculation has emerged that the CLARITY Act, a U.S. crypto market structure bill, is close to a final agreement.

On April 14 local time, blockchain outlet CoinPost reported that Patrick Witt (패트릭 위트), President Donald Trump's top crypto adviser, said at an event in New York that agreement to enact the bill had entered its "final stage."

Witt said most major points that had seemed impossible to resolve had been sorted out. He also indicated that barriers to legislation had been significantly lowered. It is a moment that raises expectations that the crypto market structure rules debated for months by the U.S. Congress could move into an actual legislative process.

The bill's biggest sticking point remains the issue of providing stablecoin rewards. The current regulatory plan bans stablecoin issuers from directly paying interest to holders. But interpretations differ on whether rewards offered through third-party platforms such as Coinbase should also be blocked.

The gap in views between the White House and the banking sector is also widening on this issue. In a report released on April 8, the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) rejected banking-sector concerns about large-scale deposit outflows. The council also presented a quantitative analysis that said a ban on yield-bearing stablecoins does not materially help protect bank lending.

The American Bankers Association (ABA), however, issued a separate analysis on April 13 to rebut it head-on. The group warned that if reward-bearing stablecoins spread, deposit outflows from community banks could accelerate and local lending capacity could be significantly damaged. It said the White House is underestimating system risk if the market, currently about $300 billion, grows to around $1 trillion.

The ABA estimates that in Iowa alone, the reduction in lending due to deposit shifts could reach as much as $8.7 billion. The banking sector says such a shock could have side effects across local economies, while the crypto industry is pushing back, saying limits on rewards block innovation. It is a point where the interests of traditional finance and the digital asset industry collide head-on.

Pressure from the political sector to legislate is also increasing. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on April 8, said refining digital asset rules is urgent to maintain dollar dominance and urged swift passage. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also praised efforts for bipartisan talks and lent support to the legislative push.

The Senate schedule is also taking shape. Senator Cynthia Lummis said markup talks and a vote could take place as early as late April in the Senate Banking Committee. A committee spokesperson did not mention a specific date, but the Trump administration is placing the process through a presidential signature on the bill among its key policy goals.

As a result, the key point to watch going forward is whether a compromise can be reached over stablecoin reward rules. Even if progress is made on overall agreement on the CLARITY Act, the possibility remains that the final legislative process could again run into conflict if this provision, where deposit outflow concerns and innovation arguments clash, is not settled.