Legislative and regulatory efforts surround the cryptocurrency sector as Donald Trump agreed to ethics rules for the Clarity Act, while SEC Chair Paul Atkins noted the agency will progress its own token rules. Corporate moves accelerated with Circle acquiring Tazapay for $400 million, Robinhood defending tokenized stocks, and Kraken launching yield vaults for tokenized equities. Additionally, major banking groups urged stricter stablecoin reward limits, and World Liberty Financial locked $800 million in tokens until 2028.
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Trump agrees to stricter ethics rules for Clarity Act crypto bill
Empowering state attorneys general to sue exchanges directly shifts crypto compliance risk from centralized federal regulators to fragmented, politically driven state enforcement litigation.
President Donald Trump agreed to stricter ethics rules for the Digital Market Clarity Act, clearing the way for a pivotal Senate procedural vote. Senate Republicans released a revised draft of the legislation containing over 120 changes, including a permanent ban on the president, vice president, members of Congress, federal judges, and their spouses from creating or sponsoring digital assets in exchange for payment. Under the new provisions, officials holding at least $15,000 in in -issuing companies must divest or place those holdings in a blind trust. The text also empowers state attorneys general to bring civil enforcement cases against violators. The ethics concessions address long-standing Democratic objections tied to Trump's personal crypto ventures, which brought in more than $1.4 billion in income during 2025. Despite the changes, the banking industry remains opposed to provisions addressing rewards, and the bill still requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
SEC's Atkins Backs Clarity Act but Confirms Ongoing Crypto Enforcement
Allowing investment advisers to use state trust companies or self-custody removes Wall Street's institutional custody bottleneck, potentially unlocking asset manager flows into digital tokens.
coindesk.com reports that SEC Chairman Paul Atkins urged Congress to advance the Clarity Act ahead of a Senate procedural vote while confirming the agency will continue pursuing its own rules regardless. Speaking at a Solana Policy Institute event in Washington, Atkins outlined a three-pillar regulatory agenda focused on crypto issuance, transfer agent modernization, and custody. The SEC chairman has asked agency staff to develop a proposal that would allow investment advisers to self-custody crypto under certain conditions or use state trust companies as custodians. The regulatory push includes proposed rules designed to give entrepreneurs clearer pathways to raise using digital assets. Meanwhile, banking groups and state attorneys general have raised concerns regarding restrictions ahead of the Senate vote.
Robinhood CEO says issuers should not have veto over tokenized stocks
Robinhood's legal position rests on tokenized shares remaining economically identical to their underlying assets, making issuer consent a question of contract law rather than regulatory necessity.
According to cointelegraph.com, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev argued that companies should not hold veto power over tokenized stock products that leave official shareholder ledgers and issuer obligations unchanged. Tenev stated via a post on X that issuer consent is unnecessary if a tokenized instrument merely references freely transferable shares without altering underlying rights or transfer agent duties. The remarks follow criticism from AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron on Sept. 4 regarding Robinhood tokenized stock offerings, which prompted AMC to seek legal review despite having no affiliation with the . Robinhood utilizes a third-party structure for these offerings, backing instruments 1:1 with underlying shares to grant economic exposure without modifying corporate capitalization tables. Bernstein estimates that the Robinhood chain will generate $160 million in annual fees by the year 2028.
Kraken Introduces DeFi Yields for Tokenized Stocks and ETFs
Routing institutional equity proxies into Solana lending markets via Veda and Sentora bridges traditional asset collateral directly into permissionless yield generation.
cointelegraph.com reports that Kraken has launched onchain vaults for tokenized stocks and , allowing clients to earn returns by lending through protocols. The xStocks vaults support tokenized versions of the SPDR ETF, Invesco QQQ ETF, and Nvidia, with yields paid in the deposited assets and withdrawals processed within three days. The vaults utilize the same infrastructure as Kraken DeFi Earn, which launched in January and has attracted over $800 million in . Veda powers the infrastructure, while Sentora designs and manages the lending strategies through markets such as Kamino on Solana. The vaults are available to eligible clients in the European Economic Area and select other markets, but remain excluded in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. The distributed value of tokenized stocks and ETFs has climbed to about $2.84 billion, up from roughly $540 million a year ago.
Timeline Established for Trump's $800M Stake in World Liberty Financial Token
Binding founder token allocations to a public vesting contract transforms indefinite insider lockups into a predictable liquidity timeline just as federal ethics legislation targets official crypto holdings.
Six insider wallets holding World Liberty Financial tokens moved an allocation valued at about $800 million into a vesting contract that delays potential sales until 2028. Coindesk.com reports that the transfer on May 19 required an immediate 10% token burn and established a two-year cliff followed by a three-year release drip. One participating wallet holds 14.175 billion WLFI tokens after the burn, matching the disclosed founder allocation of President Donald Trump. The vesting schedule follows a governance proposal passed around May 6 with support from 11,537 wallets, giving founders an to exchange an indefinite lockup for structured . Holders who declined to join remain locked indefinitely. The timeline emerges as Congress considers the Clarity Act, which contains stricter ethics rules that could require senior officials to divest significant holdings or place them in a blind trust.
WLFI Founder Token Distribution by Wallet (Billions)
Circle Acquires Emerging Market Payments Platform Tazapay for $400 Million
Integrating Tazapay’s local licenses transforms USDC from a digital settlement asset into a complete cross-border payout network that clears directly into domestic banking systems.
Circle agreed to acquire Singapore-based cross-border payments infrastructure firm Tazapay for $400 million in stock. The transaction brings Circle local payout rails, regulatory licenses, and banking relationships across more than 100 markets. Tazapay currently handles over $25 billion in annualized payment volume, with roughly 60% of that volume already involving . The gives Circle the last-mile operator needed to connect its USDC stablecoin and Circle Payments Network directly to local fiat banking systems. The deal follows a prior partnership in which Circle participated as the lead investor in Tazapay's Series B funding round. The transaction is slated to close in 2027, pending regulatory approvals including clearance from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Banks and Crypto Firms Escalate Stablecoin Rewards Debate Ahead of Senate Clarity Act Vote
Forcing yield-bearing stablecoins to strip holding-period rewards strips crypto platforms of their primary liability-capture mechanism, protecting traditional bank net interest margins from asymmetric digital yield competition.
Coindesk.com reports that eight U.S. banking groups wrote Senate leaders on Monday to demand tighter restrictions on rewards ahead of a Tuesday vote on the Clarity Act. The coalition, including the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, and Independent Community Bankers of America, argued that the current draft lets companies pay interest-like returns that threaten bank . Banks specifically targeted a proposed deposit-flight , calling for regulatory intervention before substantial deposit losses occur rather than after. The Independent Community Bankers of America highlighted that the current proposal covers an 18-month period and targets community banks with less than $10 billion in . Banking groups also want lawmakers to ban rewards tied to holding amounts and durations, which they argue mimic traditional savings accounts.
Rapid expansion in tokenized real-world assets and corporate payouts contrasts with intensifying traditional banking pushback against crypto yields. Whether Senate leaders yield to bank pressure on stablecoin rewards before the Clarity Act vote remains the key policy tension.
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