Why a new crypto bill puts Kansas farms at risk | Opinion

Sept. 5, 2026, 4:04 a.m. CT

• The CLARITY Act, a bill regulating stablecoins, contains a loophole that could allow crypto exchanges to offer interest-like yields.
• Critics argue this could pull over a trillion dollars from traditional bank deposits, potentially reducing lending activity by $850 billion.
• Community banks, which hold a majority of agricultural loans, could be disproportionately affected, impacting farmers and ranchers in states like Kansas.
• U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, has stated he will not support the bill in its current form due to its potential negative consequences on local banks.

Right now, there's a fight taking place in Congress over a piece of legislation that could quietly make life significantly harder for farmers and ranchers and all those who borrow money across Kansas and the country.

The fight is over the CLARITY Act, the follow-up to last year's GENIUS Act, which set the first real federal rules for stablecoins (digital tokens pegged to the dollar). GENIUS barred the companies that issue stablecoins from paying interest on them, with the intention that a digital token shouldn't function like a bank deposit without being regulated like one.

CLARITY was supposed to finish that job. Instead, as written, it leaves room for crypto exchanges to pay something that looks and acts like interest anyway.