According to Odaily Odaily, on Tuesday morning in the US stock market, the share price of USDC issuer Circle (CRCL) fell by as much as 18%, while the share price of crypto platform Coinbase (COIN) fell by about 8%.
CoinDesk reports that the latest draft of the US Clarity Act proposes to restrict stablecoin balance rewards, including prohibiting rewards for passive stablecoin balances and banning structures that are "economically equivalent to interest." Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev stated that the draft may prohibit payments for yield solely earned from holding stablecoins and restrict any practices that make the scheme equivalent to a bank deposit in any way.
The report mentions that the GENIUS Act previously prohibited issuers from directly paying returns to users, but issuers and platforms arranged rewards through methods such as the distribution of returns from reserve assets; for example, Circle earns interest on USDC-backed assets and shares this with Coinbase, which then uses this interest to reward users. Keyrock digital asset researcher Amir Hajian stated that the latest draft of the Clarity Act, by prohibiting arrangements "economically equivalent to interest," targets the aforementioned "yield penetration" model.
Furthermore, Tether, the issuer of USDT, stated that it has hired one of the "Big Four" accounting firms to conduct a full audit of its USDT reserves. The report also points out that this decline occurred after Circle's stock price had surged 170% since early February, and Clear Street analyst Owen Lau suggests the market reaction may be excessive; market participants are also pricing in interest rate hike expectations. (CoinDesk)
