Points of Focus

• US banks could gain explicit authority to offer crypto custody, staking, lending, payment and trading services.
• Covered institutions could use distributed ledgers without a separate crypto-specific approval process.
• Aave founder Stani Kulechov said the provision could significantly expand crypto’s addressable market.

A Senate draft of the CLARITY Act could give US banks explicit legal authority to use digital assets and distributed ledgers across services already permitted under banking law.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov highlighted the provision on July 28, pointing to custody, staking and lending as areas that could open to a much larger group of regulated financial institutions.

“Clarity act would give banks statutory authority to use digital assets and distributed ledgers without prior notice or approval needed, ranging for custody, staking and lending,” Kulechov wrote. “This is a big TAM expansion for crypto.”

Banks could enter several crypto markets

The banking language appears in Section 10401 of the updated bill text released on July 22. It covers financial holding companies, national and state banks, and certain credit unions, allowing them to use digital assets or blockchain technology for activities they are already authorized to conduct. 

The listed services include custody and safekeeping, operating blockchain nodes, staking, facilitating digital asset lending, issuing crypto-backed loans, processing payments, providing wallet software, executing customer orders and offering brokerage, clearing and settlement services.

The provision could widen the market for regulated custody infrastructure, an area where companies such as BitGo are already building products for banks, stablecoin issuers and institutional clients. Banks entering staking would also need validator access, security systems and reporting tools capable of supporting institutional capital.

Lending could create another route into traditional finance. Aave has been developing Stable Vaults for fintechs and enterprises seeking access to onchain yield products without managing DeFi infrastructure directly. Clearer authority for banks could encourage more partnerships between financial institutions and protocol developers. 

Existing banking supervision would remain

The draft says covered institutions would face no additional prior-notice or approval requirements beyond those already imposed under federal and state banking laws.

Regulators would retain authority to restrict unsafe, unsound or unlawful activity. Banks would continue to operate under applicable capital, risk-management, consumer-protection and anti-money-laundering requirements.

Payment infrastructure could be another major area of growth. Stablecoin providers are already expanding business accounts and blockchain settlement services, creating systems that banks could integrate or compete with as digital asset payments move into mainstream financial products. 

The bill still faces an uncertain timetable

The House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025 by a 294–134 vote. Senate lawmakers released a combined Banking and Agriculture Committee draft on July 22, 2026, but floor consideration was postponed ahead of the August recess. 

The legislation still requires Senate passage and further House action on any revised text before it can reach the president.

For crypto companies, the banking section could expand the pool of customers for custody, staking, lending, payments and compliance infrastructure. Kulechov’s market-size argument depends on the bill becoming law and banks deciding the commercial opportunity justifies the operational and regulatory costs.