Banks Could Eventually Offer Crypto Products, Says Bessent

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has told Congress that traditional and crypto banking products and services may be more intertwined in the future. 

Appearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, Bessent was asked by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis whether there could come a time when conventional banks and crypto are offering the same types of products.

“I think that can happen over time,” Bessent said. “We’ve actually been working with small and community banks to discuss how they can be part of the digital asset revolution.” 

Bessent tells those resisting regulations to move to El Salvador

Bessent said it was “impossible to proceed” without crypto having clear rules, and said the industry should back the crypto market structure legislation, dubbed the CLARITY Act, that’s before Congress.

“We have to get this CLARITY Act across the finish line, and any market participants who don’t want it should move to El Salvador.”

“We’ve got to bring safe, safe, sound, and smart practices and the oversight of the US government, but also allow for the freedom that is crypto,” Bessent said. “I think it’s a balance that is being worked out.”

Working to prevent bank deposit volatility 

The crypto market structure bill has stalled in the Senate Banking Committee as bipartisan talks over inclusions in the bill are at a stalemate.

Related: Crypto firms offer ideas to break market structure gridlock: Report

Lawmakers pushed to add restrictions on stablecoin yields that some crypto companies, notably Coinbase, had resisted. Bessent said that deposit volatility is “very undesirable” because it is the stability of those deposits that allows banks to lend into their communities.

“We will continue to work to make sure that there is no deposit volatility associated with this,” he said.

Several crypto companies reportedly offered concessions this week, suggesting giving community banks a larger role in the stablecoin system to help push the bill through the Senate.

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