White House Tries Again: Will Banks and Crypto Ever See Eye to Eye?

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Key Highlights

  • The White House is pondering whether to gather the banking bigwigs and crypto cowboys for another round, though nothing’s set in stone as of yet.
  • Past rendezvous orchestrated by the White House were dubbed “productive,” but they ended like a dinner with no dessert-without a morsel of compromise on the stablecoin yield question.
  • This squabble is putting a hitch in the US crypto market plans, with banks fretting about their deposits fleeing faster than a cat at a dog show, while crypto firms are calling for bans like they’re trying to shoo away pesky flies.

The White House is giving a thoughtful scratch to its chin, considering whether to host another secretive gathering this Thursday between the folks from the banks and the high-flying crypto representatives, all in an effort to untangle the mess over “stablecoin yield.”

No blueprints have been drawn up yet, but should this meeting come to pass, it would be just another attempt by our dear leaders to grease the wheels of compromise on an issue that has turned into the proverbial elephant in the room when it comes to broader digital-asset legislation.

While no official trumpet has sounded an announcement, our roving reporter Eleanor Terrett has managed to sniff out two sources confirming that something’s a-brewin’.

🚨NEW: Two sources familiar with the matter tell me the White House is considering another stablecoin yield meeting between banks and crypto representatives Thursday, though no plans have been finalized.

– Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) February 17, 2026

The Stablecoin Yield Conundrum

At the heart of this hullabaloo is the burning question of whether those issuing stablecoins or the platforms distributing these shiny tokens ought to be permitted to offer interest-like returns, rewards, or any other sweeteners to their holders. 

Banking trade groups are clamoring for strict regulations, arguing that yield-bearing stablecoins could siphon off deposits from the traditional banking system like a leaky bucket, raising financial stability risks. Meanwhile, the crypto lobbyists are hollering that banning rewards would be akin to tying one hand behind competition’s back and giving banks a golden ticket to consumer deposits.

If this Thursday meeting takes place, it will follow a couple of previous White House-led sessions that participants described as constructive but ultimately ended with everyone scratching their heads. Just last week, on February 3, the gathering wrapped up without a breakthrough, with disagreements still echoing around the stablecoin interest and rewards debate.

Now, you might wonder why this narrow-sounding tussle matters so much? Well, our esteemed leaders have been trying to get the banking sector and crypto industry to shake hands long enough to let lawmakers move forward on a more comprehensive market-structure package often referred to as the Clarity Act. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it?

Reports have labeled the yield conundrum as the “lynchpin” issue that must be resolved before any substantial progress can be made on the bigger puzzle.

The Ever-Entangled Debate

The stakes here are far from theoretical for banks. Standard Chartered has warned that US banks might lose up to $500 billion in deposits to stablecoins by 2028, which is quite the chunk of change and explains why traditional finance is treating this yield debate like a fierce game of tug-of-war.

Meanwhile, crypto firms argue that consumers are already on the hunt for yields through various channels, both above board and below, and that pushing yield outside the realm of regulated stablecoins might drive activity toward less transparent dealings, which sounds a bit like letting the fox guard the henhouse.

A note from Paul Hastings tracking policy developments suggests the administration has instructed both camps to return with specific proposed language changes after an earlier session, indicating the White House is trying to treat these discussions like serious drafting exercises, rather than a mere photo-op.

The guest list has varied across reports, but it seems major trade groups and industry players have been hovering around this issue, with banking associations stacked on one side and crypto advocacy groups like the Blockchain Association standing firm on the other, not to mention the big exchanges like Coinbase hanging about.

For the moment, the clearest signal we have is that the White House still believes a negotiated solution is possible, willing to keep hauling both sides back into the room for a good old-fashioned chinwag. But with plans for Thursday still tenuous and previous meetings yielding “progress without agreement,” the yield brawl remains precisely what it has been for weeks: the bottleneck stalling the next phase of US crypto rulemaking.

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2026-02-18 00:24