The Banks are Wrong on Stablecoin Yield with Omid Malekan

Feb 19, 2026

Beimnet Abebe, trader at Galaxy Trading who covers Bitcoin, macro, and geopolitics. Omid Malekan, Columbia Business School professor and author focused on blockchain economics and regulation. They dig into stablecoins, bank lobbying, the CLARITY/GENIUS debates, deposit stickiness, how stablecoin reserves flow through treasuries and banks, and the risks if banks succeed in banning yield.

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ANECDOTE

Bank Failures Accelerated Stablecoin Adoption

The collapse of Silvergate and Signature forced crypto to adopt stablecoins and permissionless rails faster.
Losing SEN and Signet removed key fiat plumbing and accelerated stablecoin use as settlement rails.

INSIGHT

Narrow Banking As A Transformative Option

The Clarity/Genius legislative package creates a narrow-banking option that is fully collateralized and permissionless.
That change is transformative because it offers safer payment rails outside highly-levered banks.

INSIGHT

Permissioned Chains Lose Key Blockchain Value

Private permissioned blockchains lose the trust advantages of public chains when validator sets are curated.
True property rights require transactions that cannot be censored by intermediaries.

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Alex Thorn talks to Omid Malekan, blockchain professor at Columbia Business School, about stablecoins and the CLARITY Act. Alex and Omid discuss the bank lobby’s current negotiating position and argue that the fears of deposit flight or a negative impact on credit creation by yield-bearing stablecoins are overblown at best and disingenuous at worst. Alex also talks to Galaxy Trading’s Beimnet Abebe about bitcoin markets, macro conditions, and geopolitical concerns.

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This episode was recorded on Wednesday, February 18, 2026.