The White House stablecoin meeting on Thursday felt different from the start. The room was smaller. The dynamic had shifted. And this time, federal officials were driving the conversation.
According to Terrett on X, attendees included reps from Coinbase, Ripple, and a16z, alongside trade groups the Blockchain Association and the Crypto Council for Innovation. No individual bank representatives were present. Banks got their seats through trade associations, the American Bankers Association, the Bank Policy Institute, and the ICBA.
Public statements from those in the room? "Productive." "Constructive." Same words as last week.
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The Draft Text No One Saw Coming
White House Crypto Council Executive Director @patrickjwitt walked in with draft language already prepared. That was the real shift. Prior meetings let crypto firms and bank trade groups steer things. Not this time.
The draft acknowledged bank concerns raised in last week's "Yield and Interest Prohibitions Principles" document. It also made one thing clear: earning yield on idle stablecoin balances is off the table. That specific goal, long sought by the crypto industry, is gone from the negotiating floor.
What remains open is whether firms can tie rewards to specific user activities. That is the narrowed battleground now.
Terrett reported on X that one crypto-side attendee described bank concerns as rooted more in competitive pressure than actual deposit flight risk. The original worry about deposits flowing out of banks into stablecoins may have been overstated as a justification.
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Banks Still Want Hard Protections
A bank-side source told Terrett they pushed to include a deposit outflow study in the draft. The study would examine how payment stablecoins could affect bank deposits as adoption grows. That language is not yet confirmed in the text.
The same source said proposed anti-evasion language won some support on their side. Under that proposed structure, the SEC, Treasury, and CFTC would all hold authority to enforce a ban on idle-balance yield payments. Civil monetary penalties of $500,000 per day per violation would apply.
That number got attention fast.
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What Happens Next
Bank trade groups plan to brief members on Thursday's discussions. Their goal is to gauge whether compromise exists around stablecoin reward structures. The window to move is tight.
According to Eleanor Terrett's report on X, a source said an end-of-month deadline is not unrealistic. Talks are continuing in the days ahead. The White House stablecoin meeting appears to have set a new pace for the negotiations.
Whether banks bend on rewards or crypto firms accept new limits on what they can offer users, both sides seem to understand the clock is running.
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