Ripple lawyer warns industry needs to move on Clarity Act ‘while the window is open’

Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer signalled this week that progress was being made with key crypto legislation following a month of deadlocked negotiations between banking chiefs and crypto executives.

Writing on X, Stuart Alderoty said Tuesday that he’d had a “productive session” at the White House, and that now was the time to move ahead.

“Productive session at the White House today — compromise is in the air,” wrote Alderoty.

“Clear, bipartisan momentum remains behind sensible crypto market structure legislation. We should move now — while the window is still open — and deliver a real win for consumers and America.”

Crypto executives, US banking representatives, and regulators have been meeting at the White House to work on the Clarity Act, a bill laying out federal rules for digital assets.

A sticking point of the bill — passed by the House of Representatives last year — concerns stablecoins and the yield they will potentially pay customers. Banking representatives have warned they could lose their deposit base and, in turn, their ability to lend to US businesses if companies are allowed to pay rewards on stablecoins.

Deadlocked discussions

Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal added that working with Alderoty at the latest meeting was a “pleasure” in a Tuesday post. Coinbase in January pulled support for the bill, with the exchange’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, slamming the draft.

Grewal said in a separate post that “crypto showed up ready to work, and we all made progress.”

But it isn’t clear whether the latest discussions have borne fruit. DL News reached out to both Ripple and Coinbase for comment.

Despite pro-crypto President Donald Trump campaigning on a platform to help the industry and signing digital asset-friendly legislation since taking office, the crypto sector is still pushing for clearer rules in place.

The Clarity Act aims to define the responsibilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission when it comes to regulating digital assets.

Digital asset entrepreneurs are even torn on the best way to move forward with the legislation: Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse in January said he was happy with a draft bill released that month, only for Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson to slam Garlinghouse for supporting the legislation.

Lawmakers have given crypto executives and banking chiefs until March 1 to reach an agreement on the market structure bill.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at mdisalvo@dlnews.com.