The ABA's Case That Crypto Could Drain Community Banks

CoinDesk's The Policy Protocol hosts Rebecca Rettig and Renato Mariotti open on the stalled CLARITY Act and how crypto's newness in DC stacks up against TradFi's decades-old relationships. They also dig into two hot topics: Erebor raising $1.5 billion at a valuation near $9.5 billion, and FlightAware's short-lived trademark lawsuit against prediction market Kalshi. Then they sit down with Brooke Ybarra, Head of Innovation at the American Bankers Association, who breaks down the yield compromise on payment stablecoins, makes the ABA's case that stablecoin growth could pull deposits away from community banks and shrink local lending, and explains how banks of all sizes are already experimenting with tokenized money and tokenized deposits. Plus, Rebecca and Renato debrief on the bipartisan holdouts and name SEC Chair Paul Atkins as their Person of the Week. NOTE (Aug. 14, 09:00 ET): this episode was recorded before the SEC canceled the open meeting originally scheduled for Friday.-This episode is brought to you by RealFi, a smarter stablecoin, backed by real-world assets. Find out more at realfi.co.-To view the ABA's recommended changes to legislative text of the Clarity Act, please see their Joint State Association Letter to the Senate: https://www.aba.com/advocacy/policy-analysis/Joint-Letter-to-the-Senate-on-the-Clarity-Act - Chapters/Timecodes:00:00 Welcome to The Policy Protocol01:12 CLARITY Stalls Before the August Recess03:03 Crypto vs. TradFi: A New Entrant in DC05:18 Why Clarity Levels the Playing Field06:20 Hot Topic: Erebor's $1.5B Bank Raise08:38 Hot Topic: FlightAware Sues Kalshi12:06 Brooke Ybarra of the ABA Joins the Show12:38 The Yield Compromise and Interest-Like Payments14:59 The Deposit Flight Debate17:22 How Banks Are Innovating with Tokenized Money19:49 What Happens If CLARITY Doesn't Pass22:45 Person of the Week: SEC Chair Paul Atkins