* Washington will decide whether stablecoins threaten banks or unlock U.S. crypto innovation.
* Banks warn of deposit flight, while crypto firms argue that yield is essential for competitiveness.
* The outcome could reshape USDT demand, Coinbase revenue, and XRP’s regulatory clarity.
A quiet but consequential fight is moving into the spotlight in Washington.
On Feb. 10, the White House will host a closed-door summit that pulls together two worlds that have been circling each other for years.
Notably, it will be between the largest U.S. banks and the crypto industry.
According to CCN’s findings, top executives from JPMorgan and Bank of America (BofA) will sit across from top crypto executives under the direction of the White House Cryptocurrency Committee.
For context, the goal is to break the deadlock around the CLARITY Act, the market-structure bill that has stalled in the Senate.
At the center of the dispute is a deceptively simple question with massive implications: should stablecoin issuers be allowed to pay interest?
In this analysis, CCN explains why it matters and what it could imply for some assets with interest in the development.
What to Expect From the Meeting
Unlike the first White House crypto meeting, American journalist Eleanor Terrett revealed that high-level executives will attend the second one on Tuesday.
“The confab will again be staff-level, but this time representatives from the banks themselves will be present, alongside industry trade groups,” Terrett disclosed on X on Feb. 6.
From the banking side, the argument is existential. JPMorgan, BofA, and the American Bankers Association are warning the administration that interest-bearing stablecoins function like unregulated deposit accounts.
Their fear isn’t crypto volatility, it’s capital flight.
If digital dollars can offer yield without traditional banking friction, they argue that hundreds of billions in deposits could migrate out of banks and into wallets.
Consequently, this could shrink lending capacity for mortgages, small businesses, and consumer credit.
Internally, this is being framed as a systemic risk, not a competitive one.
However, crypto firms see it very differently. Coinbase, Circle, and their peers argue that banning interest would effectively neuter U.S.-based stablecoins and freeze innovation at the exact moment global competition is heating up.
They point out that current “rewards” on products like USDC ( in the 3.5% to 5% range) aren’t reckless leverage, but a natural extension of programmable money.
From their perspective, prohibiting yield entrenches banks by regulation rather than merit.
The White House is trying to thread the needle.
Advisers have reportedly told both sides they have until the end of February to land on a compromise.
Notably, this should avoid destabilizing bank deposits while still offering rewards that don’t look like traditional interest accounts.
Whether that balance is achievable is the open question.
The outcome matters well beyond policy headlines
USDT Has Its Own Issues
For Tether (USDT), tighter U.S. rules could actually strengthen its position.
If regulated U.S. stablecoins are barred from offering yield, offshore USDT may become the preferred vehicle for international traders still chasing returns.
Interestingly, USDT has remained tightly pegged to the dollar despite the bear market.
Ahead of a crypto meeting scheduled at the White House, the Network Value to Transaction (NVT) Ratio is flashing an important signal.
For context, the sharp rise in metric suggests that on-chain transaction activity has lagged behind circulating value.
In simple terms, more USDT is sitting idle instead of moving.
Historically, spikes in stablecoin NVT tend to appear during risk-off conditions.
Notably, traders are moving funds on-chain. However, it appears that they are hesitating to rotate into volatile assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
From a macro perspective, this supports the idea that the market is in a bear cycle. As such, more traders might decide to hold more USDT irrespective of the outcome of the White House crypto meeting.
No Buying the Dip?
At the same time, market participants might need to watch out. According to Glassnode, the number of addresses holding at least 10,000 USDT has dropped to the lowest level since November 2025.
In the current chart, we see that after peaking in late November and stabilizing through December and early January, the number of ≥$10k USDT holders has dropped in early February.
Interestingly, it coincided with continued weakness across BTC and altcoins. As it stands, USDT holders appear to be breaking balances down, moving funds off-chain, or rotating into fiat.
From a bear-market psychology perspective, this mirrors late-stage dynamics seen in prior cycles.
During those periods, stablecoin holder counts at higher thresholds declined, and participants stopped preparing for immediate re-entry.
Therefore, if history rhymes with the current trend, demand for the stablecoin might drop. But only time will tell if it will impact the crypto meeting in the White House.
COIN Involvement Does Not Imply “Rescue”
For Coinbase, the stakes are immediate. Interest income tied to USDC has become a meaningful revenue stream.
A ban on retail stablecoin yield would be a direct hit to near-term earnings. At the same time, there’s an upside-down scenario.
If banks are cleared to issue their own stablecoins, Coinbase’s early-2026 partnership with JPMorgan positions it as a natural custody and exchange partner for any bank-branded digital dollar.
One other thing to note is that the outcome could affect, is COIN, which is one of the crypto stocks relatively tied to the decision.
At the time of writing, the COIN trades around $165 per share.
Like the top cryptos, COIN’s price has recently experienced a notable downtrend.
As seen below, the price has spent months trending lower inside a descending channel, consistently making lower highs and lower lows. Each bounce has been capped at progressively lower Fibonacci levels.
First the 0.618, then the 0.382, showing that rallies are being sold into by stronger hands.
The fact that price failed below the 0.236 retracement ($216) and slid toward the channel floor reinforces that the broader trend remains bearish
The recent bounce itself is important, but not necessarily bullish yet. It occurred from the extreme lower boundary of the channel.
However, the Coinbase stock price is still well below key structural resistance zones ($216 and $260), and the Supertrend remains overhead, meaning the dominant regime has not flipped back to bullish.
Furthermore, the Awesome Oscillator (AO) remains negative, suggesting downside momentum is still present beneath the surface.
Historically, durable trend reversals in COIN have only occurred after AO compresses toward zero and begins building higher lows.
Unless the White House crypto meeting yields explosive results, the COIN stock price might decline to $145.
XRP Price to Keep Stalling
For Ripple and XRP, the implications are more structural. Passage of the CLARITY Act would finally codify the line between securities and payment tokens.
This is something Ripple has been fighting for years.
The February timing also intersects with Ripple’s recent launch and expansion of RLUSD, its own USD-pegged stablecoin.
Whether RLUSD can be marketed as a yield-bearing institutional product or must remain a pure settlement instrument depends heavily on the outcome of this meeting.
From a technical perspective, XRP’s structure remains bear-market-driven.
That is why the chart below shows a textbook example of how downside trends persist even after strong narrative-driven rallies.
After the explosive summer breakout, XRP’s price entered a descending channel.
As seen below, the breakdown below the 0.236 retracement ($1.72) is particularly important.
In previous cycles, this level acts as a final line separating corrective pullbacks from full trend reversals.
Losing it confirms that the post-rally move is no longer a healthy retrace.
Meanwhile, the RSI is pinned in the low-30s, unable to generate sustained bullish divergence.
In strong trends, RSI can stay oversold for extended periods, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing here.
Contextually, this setup is similar to broader bear-market behavior across majors. XRP’s earlier strength relative to the market.
As it stands, XRP’s price will likely continue to consolidate or decline to $1.12.
On the contrary, the altcoin might break out if demand increases. In that scenario, XRP’s price might rise to $1.72.
In Conclusion…
All of this is happening under the shadow of the Kevin Warsh transition at the Federal Reserve. Warsh’s reputation as a hard-money advocate looms large.
Markets expect him to side with banks when push comes to shove, prioritizing the safety of the traditional system over rapid fintech disruption. That expectation alone is shaping positioning ahead of the talks.
In short, this isn’t a crypto-versus-bank culture clash. It’s a fight over who gets to define money in the next decade.
The February 10 meeting may not resolve it outright, but it will set the direction.
Whether stablecoins evolve into interest-bearing competitors to bank deposits or remain tightly constrained payment rails will shape everything from DeFi yields to institutional adoption for years to come.
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