New Clarity for Stablecoin Rewards

Why Crypto Interest is Becoming Crypto Rewards

If you’ve logged into your favorite crypto platform lately, you may have noticed something subtle has changed. The “Savings” tab is gone. “Interest Accounts” are quietly disappearing.

In their place: “Rewards,” “Incentives,” and “Earn Programs.”

This isn’t a cosmetic UI update. It’s a direct response to a major regulatory shift in the U.S., driven by the proposed Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, part of the 2026 Lummis-Gillibrand legislation.

Here’s the bottom line:

• The era of “passive interest” in crypto is ending.
• The era of “active rewards” has begun.

The End of “Passive”

For years, crypto yield was simple. You deposited stablecoins like USDC, the platform lent them out, and you earned an APY. It looked and felt just like a high-yield savings account – only better.

Under the new legislation, that model is effectively over for U.S. users.

Section 404 explicitly states that crypto service providers may not pay interest or yield solely for holding a stablecoin.

Why the crackdown? Regulators want a clean line in the sand. If a product behaves like a bank account – passive deposits earning interest – it should be regulated like a bank account. Since crypto platforms aren’t banks, they can no longer offer interest in that passive form.

Welcome to the “Earn” Era

The good news: earning yield isn’t banned. What’s changing is how you earn it.

The law creates a carve-out for activity-based rewards. In other words, yield is allowed – but only when it’s tied to participation. That’s why we’re shifting our language from “Interest” to “Earn.” Here are the three primary ways yield will work going forward:

1. Staking

Staking is protected.

If you hold assets like Ethereum or Solana, earning rewards for helping secure the network is considered a technical service – not a lending product or security.

Verdict: Staking rewards are on solid regulatory ground. Expect to see them labeled as “Staking Yield” or “Validator Rewards.”

2. Loyalty & Activity-Based Rewards

For stablecoins, platforms can’t pay you simply for holding anymore. Instead, rewards must be tied to what you do.

Common structures may include:

• Usage-based rewards: Earn more by trading, spending with a crypto card or maintaining activity.
• Loyalty tiers: Higher rewards for holding a platform token or subscribing to premium features.
• Promotional incentives: Temporary bonus rates, similar to credit-card sign-up offers.

The yield may look similar – but legally, it’s no longer “passive.”

3. DeFi

The passive-interest ban does not apply to decentralized protocols.

In DeFi, you earn yield by actively supplying liquidity or providing market services – whether through lending pools, AMMs, or other on-chain mechanisms.

Benefits for Everyone

Section 804 of the Act forces platforms to be far more transparent than they’ve ever been. Any program offering rewards must clearly disclose:

• Insolvency risk: What happens to your assets if the platform fails.
• Source of yield: Is the reward coming from real economic activity or a marketing budget?
• No government insurance: Prominent warnings that crypto balances are not FDIC-insured, which we already knew.

The new regulation offers a clear path for even more services, apps and platforms to offer rewards and earn programs in the US.

At CoinInterestRate, we’re actively updating our comparison tools and pages to track these new reward and earn programs, so you can see – clearly and honestly – where yield is coming from, what’s required to earn it and what platform is the best for you.