Opinion: Changing key provisions of the Clarity Act would cause legislation to fail and should be passed as soon as possible

Comparing news, Summer Mersinger, CEO of the US Blockchain Association (Blockchain Association), wrote that there are less than four weeks left until the US Senate votes to advance the “Clarity Act” debate on September 15. Reopening the provisions that have been under negotiation for several months at this time will not improve the bill; on the contrary, it will restart the unfinished negotiation process, which may eventually lead to the failure of the legislation.

Mersinger said that the two proposed revisions proposed by the American Bankers Association (ABA) — replacing the existing standard with substantially similar interest and removing the word “simply” were not simple text adjustments, but major policy changes.

She pointed out that similar interest is essentially a flexible legal standard, which may allow regulators to expand the scope of interpretation; and removing Solely will change the scope of application of stablecoin income restrictions in the GENIUS Act and affect the policy boundaries previously set by Congress.

Mersinger stated that ABA's concerns that stablecoins could cause bank deposits to be lost have no real basis. The data shows that since the GENIUS Act was passed, bank of America deposits have grown for three consecutive quarters, with a cumulative increase of more than 800 billion US dollars.

She stressed that what is really needed to protect consumers is to establish a digital asset regulatory framework. The Clarity Act will clarify the regulatory boundaries between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), require registration of platforms serving US users, and implement customer asset isolation, information disclosure, and conflict of interest management rules.

Mersinger finally called on the US Senate not to restart negotiations. The bill has been completed, the relevant work has been completed, and the Senate has an opportunity to push it forward on September 15, and it should be passed directly.