of volatility with the conflict in the Middle East intensifying in New York morning trade.
We are looking at Bitcoin and pulling back by over 2%.
Now Bitcoin is down over 20% in one of this year as the crypto industry calls on Congress to provide a spark.
Now Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has become one of the industry's most influential leaders, saying he visits.
At least once a quarter, but keep in mind his criticism did help derail the Clarity Act back in January at the same time, banks are holding their ground.
They don't think crypto exchanges should pay stable coin yield to holders.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is advocating for a level playing field for banks and crypto platforms.
He says that when stable coinsurers pay rewards on balances, they are acting like.
And needs similar oversight.
Now despite the ongoing battle crypto experts are hopeful market structure could be passed in the spring.
Well joining me this morning to weigh in is Rebecca, who is CEO and founder of Saga.
Rebecca, good morning.
Thank you so much for joining us.
So first and foremost, tell us what's going on in our nation's capital regarding crypto policy and what you expect to see in the short term in terms of timeline.
Good morning Remy.
Thanks so much for having me.
It's great to be with you.
Honestly, I think that, uh, most of us in the crypto industry are feeling a little disappointed, uh, in the progress of crypto policy with this administration, um, particularly because it started off so incredibly promisingly and, um, with the, uh, kind of momentum that we had behind the Genius Act which was the act, um.
That allowed for the staple coin proliferation that we're seeing in the market.
We weren't able to follow that up quickly with the Clarity Act.
Now the reality is that legislation of any kind in any sector is going to be hard to come by, but I think the expectations were set by the administration that this was going to be a quick and easy win for those of us in crypto, and it hasn't turned out to be the case.
So I think there has been a lot of damage control.
That members of the administration and then friendly members of Congress have tried to do over the course of the last few weeks, um, if not the last few months, uh, so the Clarity Act, we were hoping there would be movement by the end of 2025.
That did not end up being the case and, um, with the announcement by Senator Lemas that she was not going to seek reelection, we believe that there was a ticking clock on this basically.
Now what I have been saying all along is the midterm elections are this year.
Crypto is not going to be one of the main issues affecting most American households and therefore the discussion around the elections is going to shift very quickly in the spring to those issues that concern most Americans are actually going to swing the elections.
So I, I don't know honestly at this point if we're going to get this done, to be very honest. and Rebecca, while I have you here, I do want to ask you about yields and how yield wars can potentially be resolved.
So what would the resolution on stable coin yields for banks as well as exchanges actually look like?
I don't know if there's anything that's going to satisfy those of us on the crypto side, to be very honest, and the reason I say that is this because currently the stable coin yield question is in the gray zone, and because it's in the gray zone, it allows crypto protocols and exchanges to offer stablecoins with yield disguised as rewards, basically.
So an end run or a loophole.
That we're taking advantage of in order to be able to offer these yields.
Once there is actual clarity, no pun intended, on whether stablecoins can actually offer yields, then um much of the products that we have put out there might be invalidated and so uh.
Crypto is no stranger to ambiguity in the law and being able to do business despite that ambiguity, and we may be all right with continuing that ambiguity going forward as opposed to explicitly conceding something to the banks.
I don't think the banks are going to hold on this because um.
This is their business at the end of the day, and they know that having a safe place to put money is not what ultimately grows the individual companies, of course the banks are going to want to continue to offer their financial products, and once they see the crypto industry encroaching upon that, they're going to fight it tooth and nail.
I was very surprised to see that the banks wanted to reopen the Genius Act as well.
Um, they're being very aggressive.
The lobby is certainly being effective in DC.
I think it has given crypto a lot of trouble to the point where, um, despite the fact that Coinbase and other major players in the crypto industry have been spending a lot of time in DC, I think the sincerity behind our policy efforts is going to dwindle if the Clarity Act does not pass within the next few weeks.
And Rebecca, finally, before I let you go, we have about 60 seconds here.
I know you are deeply involved in the Defi space and speak to stakeholders, so give us an idea of what is actually going on behind the scenes aside from this focus on price action right now.
Honestly, most of the focus is on overall price action in the crypto markets, um, because at the end of the day, um, you know, you're building products hopefully for, uh, a market that actually exists, and, uh, within the crypto industry one of the great debates right now. is whether the crypto market actually does exist or whether it is just another glorified gambling den and unfortunately given the volatility in the markets, a lot of people, including people who've been in the industry for 10 plus years, have concluded that this is just a gambling den.
I don't completely agree with that.
Having said that, the, uh, crypto industry is definitely at a crossroads right now.
All eyes are on the Bitcoin price.
Um, if that recovers to six figures, that's when people are going to start to really pay attention in crypto again.
But, um, as we say in the industry, now is the time for building.
Now is the time for actually building great tech products that will actually carry this industry forward into the future.
Well, Rebecca, we will have to leave it there for today, but thank you so much for joining us as always and thank you so much for sharing your insights.
Thank you so much Army good to see you.
