Stablecoin yield debate central in GENIUS rule comments; SEC backs Trump’s idea of allowing semi-annual earnings reports; and more in Bankers’ Hours

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Banks and crypto firms are talking past each other on whether consumers should earn yield on stablecoins, highlighting a rift between the industries that has kept the two sides at loggerheads on crypto market legislation for months. 

In comment letters responding to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s proposed rule implementing the GENIUS Act, the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, crypto and banking firms offered fundamentally different views of what counts as “yield.” In their comments, banks pushed the OCC to treat any economic benefit tied to custody as prohibited interest, while crypto firms argued the law only bars issuers themselves from paying yield but leaves room for third parties to offer their own incentives. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday ratified President Donald Trump’s call to allow public companies to file earnings reports on a semi-annual basis, rather than quarterly.

The agency unveiled a proposal that would give public companies, including banks, the option of switching to a twice-yearly reporting schedule or continuing to report four times per year.

The 279-page proposal is a win for executives who argue that the current rules require them to devote too much time to earnings reports, which distracts them from running their businesses. It’s a loss for investors who contend that less frequent reporting will lead to less efficient markets.

Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr said Tuesday that energy costs were already rising before the Iran war, driven by “insatiable demand” for electricity from artificial intelligence and aging infrastructure. But how much higher prices go will depend on how long the war with Iran lasts, he said.

Speaking at an event at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, Barr said the U.S. energy sector is more insulated from shocks than those in Europe, though not immune.

“The energy sector is a small part of our overall economy, and U.S. natural gas products are not part of a global market, so we have serious constraints on our ability to export natural gas,” Barr said. “As a result, natural gas prices have stayed low, even while prices abroad have increased. So we’re a little bit insulated from that.”

Still, Barr said the war is pushing up prices for gasoline and fertilizer, underscoring the limits of that insulation.

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PayPal’s first quarterly earnings report under the guidance of recently instated CEO Enrique Lores delivered mixed results as the company actively overhauls its business model.

The payments firm reported an 11% increase in total payment volume processed for the quarter, from $4.2 billion to $4.6 billion year-over-year. The company also reported a net income of $1.1 billion, a 14% decrease year-over-year from $1.3 billion.

PayPal’s net earnings per share came to $1.21, a year-over-year decrease of 6%. Wall Street estimates for normalized/adjusted EPS were aggregated to $1.27 per share, according to S&P Capital, which PayPal said it beat with an adjusted EPS of $1.34.

Coinbase said Tuesday it plans to cut roughly 700 jobs, blaming a crypto market downturn and the rapid advance of artificial intelligence for the workforce reduction. The cuts represent about 14% of the company’s global workforce as of May 1, Coinbase said in a regulatory filing.

CEO Brian Armstrong announced the layoffs in a companywide email, which he also published on social media platform X. The announcement comes two days before Coinbase is set to report first-quarter 2026 earnings.

Armstrong said the layoffs are part of a broader restructuring. The company will cap management layers at five below the CEO and COO, require all leaders to stay active as individual contributors and concentrate hiring around what he called so-called AI-native pods.

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