

Crypto’s real threat to banks
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." That quote is often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, though the Indian independence leader never said it. To the crypto industry, the apocryphal phrase is a popular mantra.
Digital pioneers have endured snootiness, mockery and derision from Wall Street’s elites. Now, they are mightier than ever. Bankers and digital-asset purveyors alike have had a bountiful year.
The crypto industry has gained ground, largely owing to the legal certainty given to stablecoins by the GENIUS Act passed in July. Bank stocks have climbed by 34% since Donald Trump’s election victory, on expectations of friendlier regulation. Even among bankers who find Mr Trump objectionable for other reasons, vanishingly few prefer the regulatory approach taken under Joe Biden.
Nonetheless, tension between the old and new is growing, and the threat from crypto is bigger than many bankers once believed. Even though lenders stand to benefit from deregulation, their once privileged position as the financial aristocracy of the Republican Party looks shakier than ever before. Sharing that role with crypto-industry upstarts poses a long-term threat.
The immediate concern for bankers is stablecoin regulation. The Genius Act prohibits stablecoins from offering yields to their buyers, a concession that was intended to keep the coins from sapping demand for bank deposits, and thereby reducing lending. But a workaround means stablecoin issuers such as Circle (which issues the popular USDC coin) can share their revenue with exchanges like Coinbase, which in turn pay “rewards" to the users buying stablecoins.
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