WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 18, 2025) — Blockchain Association today released a joint letter signed by more than 125 trade associations, industry organizations, and leading companies urging Congress to reject efforts to expand the GENIUS Act’s prohibition on interest or yield in ways that would restrict lawful stablecoin rewards offered by platforms and other third parties.
The GENIUS Act reflects a carefully negotiated bipartisan compromise that protects consumers while preserving competition and innovation in payments. It prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest directly to consumers, while intentionally preserving the ability of platforms and intermediaries to offer rewards and incentives to customers. Proposals to extend the ban would weaken competition across payments and financial services, undermine regulatory clarity, and reopen a settled law.
“Congress struck a balance in GENIUS, preserving consumer choice while allowing new payment technologies to innovate,” said Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger. “Efforts to restrict lawful rewards now would reduce market competition, entrench incumbent payment providers, and destabilize a framework that was just enacted.”
Stablecoin rewards mirror long-standing incentive programs used by banks and card networks. With traditional bank account yields remaining near historic lows, these programs help households benefit from higher-rates rather than watching the value of their cash savings erode due to inflation.
Claims that stablecoin rewards threaten community banks are not supported by evidence. Independent analysis shows no disproportionate deposit outflows tied to stablecoin adoption, and banks currently hold trillions of dollars in reserves earning interest at the Federal Reserve rather than being deployed into loans.
Further, reopening GENIUS so soon after enactment risks undermining confidence in Congress’s ability to create durable, pro-innovation financial regulation and could fracture bipartisan and industry support for broader market structure legislation.
Read the full letter here.
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About Blockchain Association
Blockchain Association is the unified voice of the cryptocurrency industry. Our members include the sector’s leading investors, companies, and projects, working together to support a future-forward, pro-innovation, pro-consumer, and pro-competition national policy and regulatory framework for the crypto economy. Find us at theblockchainassociation.org. Follow us @BlockchainAssn.
