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How much interest does your bank account's savings deposit give you in a year? 0.01%. JPMorgan Chase's savings account interest rate hasn't changed much in 20 years. But if you open Coinbase and hold USDC, the annualized yield is 3.5%. Kraken and Gemini offer even higher rates, above 3.75%. The same US dollar, placed in different places, yields 350 times more. Banks are panicking. On August 19, Rob Nichols, president of the American Bankers Association, publicly stated support for the CLARITY Act—but with one condition: stablecoin rewards must be banned. Note his wording—he demands banning stablecoin rewards that are "substantially similar" to interest payments. What does "substantially similar" mean? Banks say: your 3.5% yield is no different from interest and must be banned. The crypto industry says: this is a platform reward, not interest, so why ban it? A war over "what counts as interest" is raging on Capitol Hill. Why are banks so afraid? Ronit Ghose, head of future finance at Citigroup, warns: if stablecoins can pay interest, it could trigger a massive bank deposit outflow similar to the rise of money market funds in the 1980s. Bank of America CEO Moynihan puts it more bluntly: without restrictions, up to $6 trillion in deposits could shift away from banks—accounting for 30% to 35% of all U.S. commercial bank deposits. $6.6 trillion. Not billion, trillion. The deposit empire banks built over 200 years could be drained in a few years by a digital dollar product. But the harshest reality is this: While banks cry "deposits are running away," their profits are hitting record highs. FDIC data shows: in Q1 2026, the U.S. banking industry earned $80.5 billion, a record. Bank deposits have net inflows for seven consecutive quarters, nearing $21 trillion in total. Deposits haven't fled, profits are at new highs. So what are banks really afraid of? Competition. They're afraid users will realize: my money doesn't have to stay in banks, and I can earn more elsewhere. Rashan Colbert, policy director at the Crypto Innovation Council, says plainly: "There is currently no evidence that stablecoins are drawing deposits away—this has not been found to be true, and current stablecoin activity does not even suggest this possibility." The most surreal part of this whole situation is here— In July 2025, the GENIUS Act was signed into law, explicitly banning stablecoin issuers (like Circle) from directly paying interest to holders. But the law has a loophole: it only bans issuers, not exchanges. Coinbase does not issue USDC; Circle does. Coinbase simply distributes the interest income generated by USDC reserves to users as "loyalty rewards." The issuer doesn't pay interest, the exchange gives rewards. This is not a loophole, it's an open secret. The OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) proposed rules in February this year to try to close this loophole. The ABA is now pushing the CLARITY Act to tighten this further, aiming to nail the last nail in this loophole's coffin. The banks' target has never been Circle—it’s Coinbase. The CLARITY Act will be voted on in the Senate on September 15 and needs 60 votes to advance. But the chance of the bill passing has dropped from 82% at the start of the year to 10%-20%. Three major controversies remain unresolved—ethical rules, developer protections, and stablecoin rewards. On August 20, Trump even called from the White House urging Congress to pass a "fair version." A trillion-dollar lobbying war is heating up in the countdown to September 15. Honestly— Banks have spent decades pushing savings rates close to zero, earning over $360 billion annually from payment and deposit businesses. Now someone is offering users 3.5%, and banks are panicking. They call this "systemic risk." I call it "competition." On September 15, the Senate will vote on one thing: Whether the 3.5% yield on USDC you hold on Coinbase can stay. Banks say: this is interest and must be banned. The crypto industry says: this is a reward, why ban it? $BTC $ETH $SOL #银行业支持CLARITY，稳定币奖励成争议