Does interest-bearing stablecoins threaten commercial bank deposit operations?

The stablecoin-related content of the CLARITY draft has faced strong opposition from commercial banks. They believe that interest-bearing stablecoin products will impact the deposit business of commercial banks.

By comparing the interest rates of interest-bearing stablecoins based on U.S. Treasury bonds with the deposit rates of commercial banks, we can indeed find that the threat of stablecoins to the deposit business of commercial banks exists.

The interest-bearing stablecoins based on U.S. Treasury bonds mainly include Ondo's USDY, Usual's USD0, OpenEden's USDO, and Mountain's USDM (there is another project that issues a stablecoin also called USDM, but that USDM is not primarily backed by U.S. Treasury bonds).

Annualized yields range from 3.45% to 4%.

However, according to a survey by Bankrate, as of January 17, 2026, the national average annual interest rate for savings accounts is 0.62%. The best high-yield savings accounts have an annual interest rate of about 4%.

3.45%~4% vs 0.62%~4%

It can be seen that the concern about the threat of interest-bearing stablecoins to the deposit business of commercial banks is not groundless.