Treasury Secretary Bessent Slams Crypto Industry ‘Nihilists’ as Clarity Act Remains in Limbo

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lashed out Thursday against crypto leaders still resisting the passage of the industry’s long-coveted Clarity Act, dubbing them “nihilists” who must be overcome to ensure the stalled bill’s passage.

“A growing share of crypto development relocated to places with clear rules, such as Abu Dhabi and Singapore,” Bessent said in an op-ed published late Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal. “Though industry nihilists may argue otherwise, there is one way to give developers and entrepreneurs the comfort to reshore: durable law.”

The Treasury Secretary’s comments come as the Clarity Act—a crypto market structure bill that would formally legalize most industry activity—remains stalled in the Senate. Though Senate Republicans remain committed to holding a key, months-delayed vote on the legislation later this month, key disagreements among stakeholders remain unresolved.

The most prominent of those disputes is one between certain crypto companies and the banking industry over the payment of yield on stablecoin holdings to customers.

In January, crypto giant Coinbase pulled its support for the Clarity Act over potential language in the bill, supported by the banking lobby, that could have restricted such stablecoin yield programs. For months, both industries have gone back and forth in an effort to find a compromise on the issue—one that has proved elusive.

Last month, a bipartisan group of senators, along with the White House, proposed a final compromise on the issue, in an effort to put it to bed. But Coinbase took issue with the proposal, sources familiar with the matter told Decrypt. Now, a revised proposal is floating around Capitol Hill—but that one has irked the banking industry, other sources familiar with the latest deliberations said.

“We… continue to offer our constructive ideas for tightening the yield prohibition because of the real risks to lending and economic growth,” a banking industry source said in a statement shared with Decrypt. 

Congressional leaders worry time is running out for the Clarity Act to pass this spring, before November’s looming midterm elections grind all legislative activity to a halt over the summer.

The authors of the Clarity Act initially pushed to have the bill passed by last July, with timelines slipping further to September, December, and ultimately this January. Now, key pro-crypto senators have signaled that if the bill isn’t passed by May, it’s unlikely to pass this year under the current Republican trifecta.

“Senate floor time is scarce, and now is the time to act,” Bessent said on Thursday.

Should the stablecoin yield issue be resolved in the coming weeks, several hurdles would still remain. They include the matter of President Donald Trump’s numerous personal crypto ventures, which several pro-crypto Senate Democrats have said must be outlawed to earn their support. The White House has balked at such demands.

The thorny subject is likely to prominently resurface in the coming weeks, given that the backers of Trump’s meme coin are set to hold an exclusive event for top token holders at Mar-a-Lago on April 25—right in the thick of the push to get the Clarity Act finally passed through the Senate Banking Committee.

The event promises to feature Trump himself at a “gala luncheon.” The president is set to attend the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington later that evening.