Mike Novogratz Tells Anthony Scaramucci Crypto Industry Will Lose Stablecoin Rewards Battle To Banking Lobby: ‘There’ll Be A Compromise’

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Galaxy Digital Inc. (NASDAQ: GLXY) CEO Mike Novogratz said Wednesday that the cryptocurrency industry will have to eventually compromise on the controversial stablecoin rewards clause in the market structure bill.

In a discussion with SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, Novogratz said the industry is “going to lose that battle” against what he described as a “very strong” banking lobby.

“There’ll be a compromise. The compromise is that the stablecoin companies will be able to give some reward points out for usage, but not balances,” he predicted.

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Novogratz said that the bill, as a whole, is “good” for the industry to move forward.

“You’ll do that, and then you’ll come back and try to fight that in round two, a couple of years later,” he said.

Novogratz, fresh from a trip to Washington, D.C., noted a strong “commitment” from Democrats, from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) all the way down, to get the legislation passed.

The crypto billionaire highlighted two reasons for the urgency.

“A, they think it’s important for America to lead in digital assets, but maybe more importantly, B, they realized it was really bad politics to be anti-crypto,” he said.

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Coinbase withdrew its support for the cryptocurrency market structure bill, hours before lawmakers were set to vote on the legislation last week.

The primary objection centers around a rule that would prohibit cryptocurrency platforms from paying rewards on idle stablecoin balances, which does not apply to traditional banks offering interest on dollar deposits.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong demanded a “level playing field” for cryptocurrency companies and advocated for users’ rights to earn 3.8% yield on their stablecoins.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

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