White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt says negotiators are clearing major hurdles for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in the U.S. Senate.
Speaking to CoinDesk TV on Monday, Witt, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, indicated that a recent compromise regarding stablecoin yield is likely to hold.
"We're hopeful that the compromise that has been reached will be durable and will hold," Witt said.
He noted that resolving the yield dispute was a prerequisite for addressing other legislative obstacles. According to Witt, the administration has pivoted to tackling remaining sticking points behind the scenes.
Negotiating DeFi and political ethics
While the stablecoin yield debate captured much of the public attention, Witt said negotiations have made "considerable progress" on other fronts.
Potential hangups for the Act include protections against illicit finance in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Additionally, some Democrats have requested provisions to prevent senior government officials, specifically mentioning President Donald Trump, from profiting from the crypto industry.
Witt expressed confidence that these remaining issues are solvable. "All of these issues felt intractable and unsolvable at one point in time," he said. "The fact that we've been able to close out a lot of them gives me confidence that we can close out these other ones, too."
The legislation must first pass a markup hearing in the Senate Banking Committee. Earlier this year, bank lobbyists successfully delayed the process by raising objections to how stablecoin yield might impact traditional deposit bases.
Despite a recent White House economic report downplaying risks to the banking sector, the American Bankers Association pushed back on Monday, calling the administration's view flawed.
Witt characterized the banking industry's response as varied. "They're grappling with it," Witt said. "Some of them are going to view stablecoins more positively. Some are going to be a little bit more threatened by them."
