With the White House hosting its third meeting on stablecoin policy and Congress still at odds over broader crypto legislation, the regulatory landscape remains unsettled. Yet rather than urging patience, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins is pressing the industry to move forward.
“Building useful things that people want and need speaks volumes in Washington,” Atkins said at the ETHDenver 2026 Conference on 18 Feb, arguing that tangible adoption carries more weight with policymakers than lobbying alone.
The remarks, however, come amid legislative uncertainty. Congress remains divided over market structure reform, and while stablecoin legislation has advanced further than broader crypto bills, disagreements, particularly over whether stablecoins should be allowed to pass through yield to holders, have slowed progress.
“This process will take time,” Atkins said, adding that innovators “shouldn’t necessarily wait for these changes before they start building.”
White House escalation
The legislative friction has escalated to the executive branch. A third White House meeting with representatives of the banking sector and crypto firms is taking place on 19 Feb.
The talks center on stablecoin yield mechanics. Banks have warned that yield-bearing stablecoins could compete directly with deposits without equivalent oversight, while digital asset firms argue that prohibiting yield would undermine product innovation and market competitiveness.
As reported by Sandmark, two earlier meetings in February sought to narrow differences, but the core dispute over yield remains unresolved.
Legislative deadlines and midterm elections
Lawmakers are trying to lock in a compromise before critical political deadlines. The Senate’s version of the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill that passed the House last year, could still clear Congress by April, according to Sen. Bernie Moreno. The timeline would give negotiators a window before the midterm elections in November.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act this spring, blaming the delay on the crypto industry and warning that a shift in House control after the midterms could erode the bipartisan coalition that currently supports the legislation.
“We need a statute to undergird those efforts so that we won’t have backsliding in the future,” Atkins said.
The clock is ticking, with the White House targeting a deal by the end of February.