Daily Crypto Briefs 
WASHINGTON, December 14, 2025 –
People are asking a simple question: why leave cash sitting in a bank account for low interest when a dollar stablecoin can earn around 4% to 5% on major platforms.
That gap is the story. Coinbase still markets “earn 4.25% rewards” for simply holding USDC.
Banks see the same math. If customers move balances out, banks lose cheap funding. If banks recreate the same offer inside the bank, they keep the customer and keep most of the spread.
Now add U.S. stablecoin legislation. On July 18, 2025, President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, according to a White House fact sheet. That signature is the hinge point for everything else in the stablecoin market—if you want the full breakdown of what’s actually in the law (and why it matters for stablecoins), start here: The GENIUS Act and the Stablecoin Market.
That law did not kill stablecoin yield. It pushed the yield battle up one layer, into rewards programs, bank partnerships, and regulator-approved “middleman” models.
Why stablecoin yield exists in the first place
Most “stablecoin yield” comes from plain interest rates in the real world, not from risky trading.
Stablecoin reserves often sit in cash-like assets such as Treasury bills or government money market funds. Circle says USDC is backed 100% by cash and cash-equivalent assets, with most reserves held in the SEC-registered Circle Reserve Fund, per Circle’s USDC page.
Platforms then choose to share some of that economics with users, either as rewards or as part of a broader customer growth plan. That is why you can see 4% to 5% headline yields even when the stablecoin issuer itself is not paying “interest” on the coin.
This detail matters because it frames what banks want.
Banks do not hate stablecoins because they earn yield. Banks hate that someone else controls the yield and the user experience. But the thing is, Stablecoins did not “beat” banks. Stablecoins exposed a truth banks preferred to keep quiet: depositors care about yield when the alternative is easy, liquid, and feels safer under clearer rules.
GENIUS Act made “payment stablecoins” feel more like a regulated money product
The GENIUS Act is the reason many investors now say stablecoins are “getting safer.” The rules push issuers toward clear backing, clear supervision, and clearer limits.
The St. Louis Fed’s explainer highlights a key point: the GENIUS Act bans payment stablecoin issuers from paying stablecoin holders yield or interest.
That sounds like the end of yield. It is not.
It means the yield tends to show up as “rewards” from platforms and brokers instead of “interest” from the issuer. People still earn. The legal wrapper changes.
This is where banks step in.
What banks want: the spread, the control, or both
Banks have two playbooks.
Banks copy the product and keep most of the yield
A bank can take customer dollars, place them in safe short-term assets, and pay the customer a smaller rate while keeping the difference. That is a classic banking model.
Stablecoins make the comparison brutal because the customer sees the “cash yield” number in an app next to their bank’s rate.
Banks push to limit stablecoin rewards and funnel flows back into banks
Bank-aligned groups have already pressed regulators to treat the GENIUS Act yield ban as a hard line. In a Nov. 4, 2025 comment letter to the U.S. Treasury on GENIUS Act implementation, banking and financial trade groups highlighted the statute’s ban on paying interest or yield on payment stablecoins.
If that pressure succeeds, platforms may still offer rewards, yet the rules can tighten around what is allowed, how it is marketed, and who can access it.
That is the “block customers” path. It does not need to be a direct ban. Banks can slow rails through higher friction, narrower transfer policies, and more aggressive compliance screening.
Regulators are also opening a lane for banks to act as crypto middlemen
Banks have another advantage: regulators can let them do parts of crypto activity in a way that fits bank rules.
In a Dec. 9, 2025 release, the OCC said national banks may engage in “riskless principal” crypto-asset transactions, where the bank intermediates matching buy and sell orders without holding a crypto inventory.
This looks like a green light for banks to put themselves back into the transaction flow.
Once the bank sits in the middle, it can charge fees, shape which rails customers use, and later bolt on stablecoin services under bank branding.
PNC + Coinbase shows the model banks are likely to copy
The cleanest example right now is PNC.
In a Dec. 9, 2025 announcement, PNC said eligible PNC Private Bank clients can buy, hold, and sell bitcoin directly through PNC’s digital banking platform, powered by Coinbase Crypto-as-a-Service.
This matters for the stablecoin yield story because it solves the hardest bank problem: shipping crypto without rebuilding crypto plumbing.
If this approach works, expect more banks to do the same thing in stages:
- start with bitcoin access for wealthy clients
- expand to broader access
- add stablecoin rails for payments and settlement
- wrap “rewards” around stablecoin balances inside bank accounts
That is the bank’s endgame: keep the customer, keep most of the yield, and keep regulators comfortable.
Binance “only one that meets SEC criteria” is not a real thing
There is no SEC statement or published rule saying Binance is the only platform that meets SEC criteria for stablecoins, yield, or exchange compliance.
What is real: the SEC dropped major cases.
On May 29, 2025, the SEC said it filed a joint stipulation to dismiss its civil enforcement action against Binance entities and Changpeng Zhao with prejudice, per its Litigation Release No. 26316.
On Feb. 27, 2025, the SEC also announced dismissal of its civil enforcement action against Coinbase, per Press Release 2025-47.
That pattern signals a policy reset. It does not crown Binance as “the only compliant one.” If anything, it supports the opposite point: the U.S. is shifting from regulation-by-lawsuit toward written rules like the GENIUS Act.
If you want a sharp line for your post, use this: The SEC is stepping back from headline lawsuits while Congress and regulators build a rulebook, and banks are moving fast to claim the on-ramps.
What this means for the stablecoin market, USDC, and USDT
Stablecoins are splitting into clearer buckets.
USDC is leaning hard into U.S.-friendly reserve disclosures and structures tied to government money market assets, which helps it fit the GENIUS Act “payment stablecoin” direction, as outlined on Circle’s USDC page.
USDT still dominates global crypto settlement and exchange plumbing. Tether publishes its reserve breakdown on its transparency page.
Banks do not need to pick a winner today to win the larger game. They just need to own the customer interface where stablecoin balances live and where “rewards” get paid.
GENIUS Act rules reduce some uncertainty, yet they also create a new contest over who gets to pay rewards and under what label, as discussed in the St. Louis Fed’s explainer.
The PNC path is the playbook. Banks will partner, ship, and then try to own the rails (see PNC’s announcement).
Primary sources and further reading
Fact-checked by: Daily Crypto Briefs Fact-Check Desk
Frequently Asked Questions
How can USDC holders earn around 4.25% if the GENIUS Act bans stablecoin yield?
The GENIUS Act targets issuer-paid interest or yield on the stablecoin itself. Many “USDC yield” offers are framed as platform rewards programs funded by the platform’s own economics, not interest paid by the issuer directly.
Does the GENIUS Act ban rewards programs from exchanges and brokers?
Not necessarily. The key distinction is whether the stablecoin issuer is paying interest to holders versus a platform offering rewards as a separate program with its own terms, eligibility, and compliance controls.
Why do banks care about stablecoin rewards?
High stablecoin rewards can pull deposits out of banks, raising banks’ funding costs. Banks have incentives to either replicate the rewards inside regulated products or push for tighter limits on how rewards are offered and marketed.
What’s the clearest signal the “yield fight” is moving into bank apps?
Watch for more bank partnerships that add stablecoin rails and brokerage-style crypto access, plus changes to how platforms describe rewards and who can access them under evolving guidance.