Banks are lobbying to kill crypto rewards to protect a hidden $1,400 “tax” on every household
Banks are fighting stablecoin rewards to protect a secret $360 billion revenue machine.
When Coinbase chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad posted a thread on Jan. 8 warning that stablecoin rewards “remain under debate” as Congress marks up market structure legislation, he attached numbers that banking groups would rather keep quiet.
US banks earn $176 billion annually on roughly $3 trillion they park at the Federal Reserve, and they collect another $187 billion from card swipe fees, nearly $1,400 per household.
That’s over $360 billion in revenue from payments and deposits alone, and stablecoins with competitive yields threaten both streams at once.
The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, bans stablecoin issuers from paying interest or…
