Delaware has introduced two bipartisan bills—the Delaware Payment Stablecoin Act and the Delaware Banking Modernization Act—to establish a licensing and oversight regime for payment stablecoin issuers and digital asset service providers serving Delaware residents. The Payment Stablecoin Act would create three license types: payment issuer, digital asset service provider, and a combination license, and would require new entrants to hold at least $5 million in capital, drawing on federal GENIUS Act definitions. Consistent with GENIUS Act guidance, the bill would prohibit paying interest or yield on payment stablecoins to holders, while the Banking Modernization Act adds definitions for “digital asset” and “virtual currency” to the Delaware Code, with the bills advancing to the Senate Banking Committee.
In Washington, lawmakers reached a tentative agreement on stablecoin yield language under the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks announced an “agreement in principle” with the White House on how yield would be treated for stablecoins. Banks have argued that allowing crypto platforms to pay yield could trigger deposit flight from traditional savings and threaten lending capacity, while the crypto industry contends that restricting yield would undermine U.S. competitiveness.
The regulatory focus on tokenization and digital assets continued with a House Financial Services Committee hearing on “Tokenization and the Future of Securities.” The committee considered two bills—the Modernizing Markets Through Tokenization Act and the Capital Markets Technology Modernization Act—which would, respectively, require a joint SEC-CFTC study on whether additional guidance is needed for tokenized securities and derivatives, and authorize blockchain-based recordkeeping by intermediaries consistent with SEC rules. Committee Chairman French Hill described the moment as a significant transformation for the financial landscape, while stressing the importance of maintaining market integrity regardless of the technology used.
NYSE and Securitize Markets announced a collaboration to support tokenized securities markets, naming Securitize as the first digital transfer agent eligible to mint blockchain-native securities for issuers on the NYSE’s forthcoming Digital Trading Platform, a venue designed to enable 24/7 on-chain trading with on-chain settlement, fractional shares, and stablecoin-based funding. In North Carolina, Senate Bill 327 would establish the North Carolina Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act, authorizing the Office of the State Treasurer to allocate up to 10 percent of public funds to bitcoin as part of the state’s long-term financial strategy, with provisions for cold storage wallets and multi-signature authentication and requiring two-thirds approval for liquidations.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins described the week as “historic” for America’s digital asset markets at the Digital Asset Summit and urged Congress to deliver a durable market-structure framework, noting that recent interpretive actions are “the end of the beginning.” The CFTC announced the formation of an Innovation Task Force to develop clear regulatory frameworks for emerging technologies, including crypto assets, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets. Finally, the United Kingdom announced a ban on cryptocurrency donations to political parties, effective immediately and applied retroactively to donations from March 25.
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