The Summer of Clarity: America Must Finish the Framework

A  three-part Zebec policy series on market structure, stablecoin implementation and real-world payments

Part 1.

The United States has already taken an important step toward a workable digital-payments framework. With the GENIUS Act signed into law in July 2025, payment stablecoin issuers now have a federal statutory path built around reserves, redemption, supervision and financial-crime compliance.

But stablecoins do not operate in isolation. They move across public blockchain networks, through wallets and software platforms, and into exchanges, custody services, payroll systems and payment applications. Rules for the asset are only one part of the commercial environment in which that asset is used.

That is why market-structure legislation remains essential.

The US Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is intended to define more clearly how federal securities and commodities laws apply to digital assets and to allocate responsibility between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The latest version of the bill is expected to move to a Senate vote, followed by reconciliation with the House version and, if approved by both chambers, the President’s signature. Its passage would provide a durable policy framework that can survive political cycles and give responsible businesses a reliable basis for investment.

For companies building real-world financial products, regulatory uncertainty is not theoretical. It affects which assets a platform can support, how regulated partners assess risk, whether institutions are prepared to integrate blockchain infrastructure and how confidently a company can invest in the United States.

This matters to Zebec because our business is built around use, not speculation. Zebec provides technology that helps employers and individuals move value through payroll, payment and card products. Stablecoins and other digital assets can be held or transferred through non-custodial infrastructure, while regulated issuers, banking partners, exchanges, custodians and other providers remain responsible for their respective functions.

The GENIUS Act creates a foundation for regulated payment stablecoins. CLARITY can help complete the surrounding framework by making the treatment of other digital assets and market participants more predictable. Together, these policies can make it easier for enterprises to distinguish compliant infrastructure from speculative activity—and to evaluate blockchain products on the same practical criteria they apply to other financial technology: security, reliability, cost, controls and legal accountability.

The strongest argument for CLARITY is therefore not that every digital asset deserves the same treatment. It is the opposite. Different assets and activities carry different risks. A useful framework should distinguish issuance from trading, custody from software, and financial intermediation from non-custodial technology. Clear classifications and defined responsibilities can strengthen consumer protection without imposing identical obligations on every participant in a transaction.

That distinction also matters for competition. When legal status depends too heavily on case-by-case interpretation, established firms can absorb the uncertainty more easily than emerging providers. Clear statutory rules create a more level basis for banks, fintech companies and blockchain-native businesses to compete—and allow customers to compare them on execution rather than regulatory guesswork.

The United States has an opportunity to move from regulation by uncertainty toward rules that support responsible deployment. GENIUS addressed a central piece of the stablecoin market. Passing market-structure legislation would help connect those regulated assets to the broader digital economy—and give businesses building real products a clearer reason to build, hire and invest in the United States. In Part 2, we examine what that clarity would mean in practice for Zebec’s payroll, payments and digital-asset infrastructure business.

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