As U.S. policymakers debate restrictions on stablecoin yield products, a leading industry figure suggests this regulatory vacuum could catalyze other nations to create more accommodating frameworks. According to Takatoshi Shibayama, Asia-Pacific lead at hardware wallet company Ledger, a potential ban in the United States would “definitely open up a conversation” for international regulators and issuers to explore permitting such features.
U.S. Regulatory Stance May Prompt Global Shift
The current legislative landscape in the United States involves a Senate bill aimed at establishing a clear regulatory regime for crypto markets. A contentious provision, supported by banking lobbyists, seeks to prohibit third-party platforms from offering yields or rewards on stablecoins—a move fiercely opposed by crypto advocacy groups. This provision has contributed to stalling the broader legislation.
Shibayama told Cointelegraph that if a wider ban on stablecoin yields is enacted, it would create a significant policy divergence. He noted that some jurisdictions, like Australia, have already established a regulatory carveout that allows for yield-bearing stablecoin products. However, he observed that most global stablecoin issuers, even outside the U.S., currently avoid offering yields primarily to “protect the banks’ interest.”
An Opportunity for International Competitiveness
Should the U.S. move to restrict these products, Shibayama believes it would prompt a strategic reassessment abroad. “If that were to change in the US, then I think it definitely opens up a lot of conversation between the stablecoin issuers and the regulators to allow yields or rewards to be passed through to their user base,” he said. This could position other financial hubs as more innovation-friendly destinations for stablecoin development and usage.
Asia’s Financial Institutions Chart a Blockchain-Centric Course
Separately, Shibayama highlighted a pronounced trend among Asia’s major financial institutions: a deliberate decoupling of cryptocurrency speculation from the pursuit of blockchain utility. Over the past year, he noted a shift where traditional firms are largely bypassing direct exposure to assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
“They’re really looking at: Can they tokenize their financial products? Can they issue stablecoins?” Shibayama explained. Discussions are heavily focused on the operational efficiencies of distributed ledger technology—such as settlement, custody, and new product issuance—rather than on decentralized finance (DeFi) or staking rewards. This marks a clear prioritization of permissioned, institutional blockchain applications over public crypto ecosystems.
Asset Managers Remain an Outlier
The approach is not uniform across all sectors. Shibayama pointed out that asset managers constitute a notable exception, as they continue to explore crypto-native products to diversify client offerings. A key driver, he suggested, is a comparatively less stringent regulatory environment regarding custody. “There aren’t ‘strict regulations around them having to have a regulated custodian,’” he said, though he added that firms are growing more selective in choosing specialized, reputable custody partners even within this space.
Additional reporting by Stephen Katte.
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