The post CLARITY Act Draft Released: What the 309-Page Draft Says About Bitcoin, Staking and Stablecoins appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

The Senate Banking Committee released the full 309-page draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Tuesday morning, giving committee members until close of business Wednesday to file amendments ahead of Thursday’s 10:30 AM EST markup vote.

The release follows months of negotiations that nearly collapsed multiple times over stablecoin yield provisions, ethics rules, and DeFi regulations. The draft represents the most complete picture yet of what US crypto regulation will actually look like if the bill passes.

Here are some parts of the text:

Bitcoin and Ethereum Are Permanently Non-Securities

One of the most significant provisions locks in the regulatory status of major cryptocurrencies immediately. Any token that served as the principal asset of a spot Exchange Traded Product as of January 1, 2026 is permanently treated as a non-security under the bill.

In practical terms that means Bitcoin, Ethereum, and any other asset that received spot ETP approval by year-end 2025 can never be reclassified as a security regardless of future SEC or CFTC leadership changes. The legal certainty that the industry has fought for years to establish is written directly into the legislation.

Staking Is Fully Protected

The draft carves out staking activity entirely from securities treatment. Four specific staking structures are explicitly classified as administrative or ministerial rather than investment activity:

• Self-staking by token holders
• Self-custodial staking with a third-party node operator
• Liquid staking through receipt tokens
• Custodial staking services provided by exchanges

Critically, the bill also states that governance rights attached to a token do not disqualify it from non-security treatment. This directly addresses one of the longest-running regulatory grey areas in the industry.

Banks Get Direct Access to Crypto Without Prior Approval

Section 401 of the draft opens the door for traditional banking institutions to enter the digital asset space without needing regulatory permission first. National banks, state banks, and credit unions are all permitted to offer the following services as incidental to normal banking business:

• Custody of digital assets
• Staking services
• Lending against digital assets
• Payment processing
• Market making
• Underwriting

No prior approval from regulators is required. For an industry that has spent years watching banks turn away crypto clients due to regulatory uncertainty, this provision alone represents a structural shift in how digital assets integrate with the traditional financial system.

The Stablecoin Yield Question Is Settled

Section 404 draws the clearest line yet on stablecoin rewards. Exchanges and platforms are prohibited from paying interest or yield simply for holding stablecoin balances. Any return that is economically equivalent to interest on a bank deposit is banned outright.

However, activity-based rewards remain fully permitted. Staking rewards, governance participation incentives, loyalty programmes, and rewards tied to actual platform usage are all allowed to continue. Existing exchange rewards programmes that pay passive yield on stablecoin balances will need to restructure their models to comply.

The compromise gives banks what they lobbied for, a ban on stablecoins functioning as interest-bearing deposits, while preserving the activity-based reward structures that crypto platforms argued were fundamentally different from deposit interest.

What Happens Next

Committee members have until Wednesday close of business to submit amendments. Thursday’s markup at 10:30 AM EST will determine whether the bill advances out of committee. If it clears that hurdle the full Senate must still vote, and the Senate version must be reconciled with the House version before reaching President Trump’s desk.

The White House is targeting July 4 for the final signature. Thursday is the next critical checkpoint.

The post Ripple News: Brad Garlinghouse Finally Reveals if XRP Holders Benefit by Ripple’s Success appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

It is one of the most debated topics in the XRP community. Does holding XRP actually translate into direct financial benefit from Ripple’s commercial success as a company? Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse finally addressed it directly.

His answer was nuanced, personal, and stopped short of making any firm commitments while leaving a door deliberately open.

What Garlinghouse Actually Said

Garlinghouse said he hopes XRP holders feel they are benefiting from Ripple’s existence through the work the company does to catalyse activity within the XRP ecosystem. Every acquisition, every investment, every partnership Ripple pursues is evaluated in part through the lens of how it drives XRP adoption and utility.

On the question of whether Ripple would do something specific for XRP holders if and when the company goes public, Garlinghouse said it was possible but not something being planned in the immediate term.

“Is there a scenario if and when Ripple goes public, would we do something special for people who hold XRP? Maybe,” he said. “But that’s not in the immediate term.”

He was more direct on where his personal motivations lie. “I freaking love the XRP family,” he said. “I want to do things that are good for the XRP community. It is a driving mission.”

How Ripple Thinks About XRP When Making Decisions

Garlinghouse outlined how XRP sits at the centre of Ripple’s strategic decision-making. When Ripple considers an acquisition, the question being asked internally is how that acquisition catalyses activity within the XRP ecosystem. When Ripple makes investments outside the company, the question is how those investments drive broader XRP adoption.

He pointed to Evernorth, a digital asset treasury company Ripple has been supporting, as an example of the approach. Ripple views a high-quality XRP-focused treasury company as good for the XRP community, good for Ripple shareholders, and good for the broader ecosystem simultaneously.

What It Means for XRP Holders

Garlinghouse stopped short of promising any direct financial mechanism linking Ripple’s corporate success to XRP holders. There is no dividend structure, no buyback programme, and no confirmed IPO benefit for token holders on the table right now.

What he described instead is an alignment of incentives. Ripple’s commercial success, in his framing, is designed to create conditions where XRP becomes more useful, more adopted, and more liquid. The benefit to holders is indirect but intentional.

Whether the community accepts that framing or continues pushing for something more concrete is a debate that Garlinghouse’s comments will almost certainly intensify rather than resolve.

The post XRP News: Ripple Prime Raises $200 Million From Neuberger to Scale Institutional Crypto Lending appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Ripple has closed a $200 million debt facility from Neuberger Specialty Finance, the asset-based lending arm of global investment manager Neuberger. The capital will expand the lending and margin financing capacity of Ripple Prime, Ripple’s institutional prime brokerage platform.

The deal was announced Monday May 11, making it one of the largest debt facilities raised by a crypto-native prime brokerage platform in 2026.

Why Ripple Prime Needed This

Ripple acquired the prime brokerage platform in 2025. Since the acquisition, Ripple Prime has tripled its revenue year over year as institutional demand for margin financing across both traditional and digital markets accelerated faster than the platform’s existing balance sheet could support.

Dependable access to financing is critical to institutional participants in today’s dynamic markets, and Ripple Prime’s ability to meet this need just got that much stronger.

We're proud to partner with Neuberger on a $200M debt facility to meet rising client demand for our…

— Ripple (@Ripple) May 11, 2026

The $200 million facility solves that constraint directly. Ripple Prime can now draw up to the full amount as client demand requires, extending financing to institutions operating across crypto and traditional markets from a single counterparty.

What Makes This Deal Different

Most crypto lending facilities in 2026 have been structured around purely digital asset collateral. This deal is different. Neuberger Specialty Finance, which manages asset-based lending strategies across traditional markets, backed Ripple Prime specifically because the platform bridges both worlds simultaneously.

That positioning, serving institutional clients who need prime services across crypto and traditional finance rather than one or the other, is what attracted a firm of Neuberger’s size and profile to the deal. Neuberger Private Markets manages over $155 billion in investor commitments globally across 17 offices.

The Revenue Story Behind the Raise

Ripple Prime tripling revenue year over year since its 2025 acquisition is the data point that makes this facility credible rather than speculative. The growth came from institutional clients increasing activity across both traditional and digital markets and seeking reliable counterparties with consistent access to capital at scale.

The $200 million raise is not a bet on future growth. It is a response to demand the platform is already experiencing.

What Comes Next

The facility expands Ripple Prime’s ability to onboard new institutional relationships and deepen financing capacity for existing clients. It positions the platform to compete directly with established prime brokers for mandates that require cross-market capability, something most traditional prime brokers and most crypto-native platforms cannot yet offer from a single desk.

For Ripple broadly, the deal adds another institutional infrastructure layer alongside its payments, custody, and stablecoin businesses, reinforcing its positioning as a full-service operator across the financial system rather than a single-product company.

The post Clarity Act News Today: Thursday Markup Set but Democrat Votes Could Determine the Bill’s Fate appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

The Senate Banking Committee has officially scheduled the CLARITY Act markup for Thursday May 14 at 10:30 AM EST. Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott announced the date on Friday evening. According to a committee memo, the final legislative text is expected to be released Monday with senators required to submit amendments before close of business Tuesday.

The vote comes nearly four months after the first Senate Banking markup was scrapped in January over last-minute objections from industry leaders including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who argued the bill deferred too much to banks and could effectively eliminate stablecoin rewards programs for consumers. 

The Banking Lobby’s Last Stand

Not everyone is satisfied. Banking trade groups sent a letter to Senate Banking leadership on Friday arguing the current stablecoin yield compromise still leaves room for rewards programs that could replicate interest. The groups want further revisions to prevent stablecoins from functioning like interest-bearing bank accounts.

Over the weekend, American Bankers Association president Rob Nichols sent a direct email to member bank CEOs urging immediate action. He encouraged them to call Senate offices, mobilise employees, and submit letters through an online advocacy portal ahead of Thursday’s vote.

A Senate aide who reviewed the letter described the effort to Crypto In America as “pretty milquetoast,” noting lawmakers on both sides have largely moved on to resolving ethics provisions rather than revisiting the yield debate.

The Democrat Question

The bigger unknown heading into Thursday is whether any Democrats on the committee will vote yes.

Senators Adam Schiff and Ruben Gallego have been leading the charge on ethics provisions targeting conflicts of interest related to President Trump and his family’s crypto dealings. Schiff is described as particularly firm on the issue. Gallego has been a broader advocate for advancing the bill but his final vote remains unclear.

Senator Mark Warner, another key DeFi negotiator, will also be one to watch closely on Thursday.

Why It Matters

The bill can advance out of committee on a purely partisan vote. But that path carries risk. Galaxy Digital’s head of firmwide research Alex Thorn told Crypto In America that a strictly Republican committee vote would likely make it harder to secure the 60 votes needed for full Senate passage.

“While it’s possible the bill could still succeed if it advances through Senate Banking on a partisan basis, the odds of ultimate Senate passage are certainly diminished if no Democrats vote in favour during committee markup on Thursday,” Thorn said.

Others remain less concerned, pointing to the bipartisan momentum that has kept the bill alive through multiple near-collapses.

The post Top Analyst Reveals What’s Next For Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Prices appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Bitcoin is trading within a well-defined resistance zone that analyst Gareth Soloway has been tracking since the market’s October 2025 lows. The zone runs from $80,000 at the low end to approximately $85,000 to $86,000 at the high end, with multiple historical pivot points creating a solid resistance footprint across that range.

Soloway said Bitcoin could push toward $86,000 within the current structure, but stopped short of calling it a breakout. “All it takes is a catalyst,” he said. “The NASDAQ starts to fall for a few days in a row and before you know it Bitcoin is under $80,000, then under $75,000, and momentum takes over.”

For a bullish shift, Soloway said he needs to see Bitcoin clear $98,000. That level, if broken, would open a path back toward the trend line that marked the 2025 bull market top and signal a potential new all-time high attempt. Until then, he described the current move as digestion rather than a confirmed reversal.

One concern he flagged is that Bitcoin is still not trading as a risk-off asset. With the NASDAQ and S&P 500 at all-time highs, Bitcoin remains roughly 40% below its own peak. 

Ethereum: Holding $2,100 Is Everything

Ethereum has lagged while other altcoins have posted larger moves, which Soloway described as disconcerting. His near-term target remains $2,700, but the more important level is $2,100 on the downside.

A series of pivot lows have formed a clear support line at that level. As long as Ethereum holds $2,100, Soloway said he maintains a neutral to bullish stance. A break below it would signal the current choppy range is resolving to the downside, removing the near-term recovery case entirely.

XRP: Two Levels Define the Next Move

XRP is pressing against resistance at $1.47 to $1.48. A clean break above that zone opens upside toward $1.70 to $1.80, a move from current levels that Soloway said is worth monitoring actively.

The downside level to watch is $1.38. A break below that support removes the immediate bullish setup and could trigger a move lower. As with Bitcoin and Ethereum, the chart is giving clear levels to follow in both directions.

The post Ripple News: Can CLARITY Act May 14 Vote Trigger XRP Bull Run? appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Crypto analyst Zach Rector says the next XRP bull run is not a question of if but when, and the early signals are already visible.

The stock market just added $10 trillion in market cap over 39 days. The NASDAQ hit 29,000 for the first time in history. The S&P 500 reached a record 7,400. According to Rector, this kind of liquidity expansion historically rotates into crypto next, and that rotation has already begun.

“Let them juice up the stock market so they can rotate it into digital assets and let that money flow in,” he said.

Two Coins Already Proving the Point

Rector pointed to two recent pumps as proof the rotation is starting:

• Constellation DAG surged 200% after announcing an acquisition by AI Holdings and a NASDAQ listing on May 14 under the ticker AIS
• Ondo jumped over 137% from its February lows following the landmark Ripple, JPMorgan and Mastercard cross-border tokenized Treasury settlement on the XRP Ledger

XRP itself did not move on the Ondo news despite being the underlying infrastructure. Rector called it “incredible suppression” but said not to be fooled. XRP outperformed Ondo last cycle and he expects it to do the same again.

The CLARITY Act Is the Catalyst

The Senate Banking Committee has officially scheduled the CLARITY Act markup for May 14 at 10:30 AM EST. Rector said this is the last real window to get the bill passed before midterm campaigning takes over the political calendar.

If it clears committee, advances through the full Senate, gets reconciled with the House version, and reaches Trump’s desk by July 4, it removes the single biggest regulatory overhang hanging over XRP and the broader crypto market.

Retail Is Already Gone

Rector flagged that Coinbase XRP trading volume fell 18% year over year, a sign retail has largely exited. In his view that is exactly when the move happens.

“You scare retail out, chop it sideways so they get bored, and then you send it,” he said.

His portfolio is 90% XRP. He is already positioned and the bull run, in his view, does not wait for everyone to feel comfortable.

The post Banking Lobby Tries to Kill CLARITY Act Four Days Before Senate Vote appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Four days before the Senate Banking Committee votes on the CLARITY Act, major banking trade groups have submitted a joint letter demanding changes to a stablecoin yield compromise they had already accepted.

The American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, and three other major banking lobbies sent the letter to Senate Banking Committee leadership after the markup vote was officially scheduled for May 14. The timing is deliberate. The Memorial Day recess begins May 21. If the bill does not clear committee before then, it gets pushed off the Senate calendar entirely and a full year of negotiations resets to zero.

What the Compromise Actually Said

The bipartisan compromise reached on May 1 by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks was straightforward. Crypto companies cannot pay passive yield on stablecoins the way a bank pays interest on deposits. However, rewards tied to actual usage, transactions, and platform activity remain permitted.

Banks agreed to this framework. Then the Senate Banking Committee scheduled the May 14 markup. Within days, the same banking groups submitted a letter demanding the entire rewards framework be scrapped.

What Banks Are Really Worried About

The banking lobby’s stated concern is consumer protection. Their actual concern is competition. Banking groups have explicitly said in their own communications that yield-bearing stablecoins could reduce consumer, small business, and farm loans by 20% or more. 

If consumers move money from bank accounts into crypto platforms offering activity-based rewards, banks have less capital to lend and less profit to generate. That is a competitive threat, not a consumer protection argument.

Trump Pushes Back

President Trump has publicly stated he will not allow bankers to derail the bill. A Senate aide who reviewed the banking lobby letter described it as “pretty milquetoast,” adding that committee members have already moved past the yield debate and are focused on wrapping up remaining issues around ethics provisions.

What Happens Next

The May 14 markup vote is still on. The July 4 deadline for the President’s signature remains the White House target. But the banking lobby’s last minute intervention is a deliberate attempt to introduce enough friction to blow past the Memorial Day deadline.

If the committee holds firm and advances the bill on Thursday, the path to July 4 stays open. If the lobbying effort succeeds in reopening the yield debate, the entire legislative effort risks collapsing before it reaches the Senate floor.