Fed Proposes Letting Stablecoin Issuers Access Banking System Directly Without Banks
The Federal Reserve (Fed) has unveiled plans to grant stablecoin issuers and fintech corporations direct entry to its cost infrastructure with out requiring partnerships with conventional banks.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller announced the proposal in the course of the central financial institution’s inaugural Payments Innovation Conference on October 21, introducing what he termed “cost accounts” or “skinny grasp accounts” for legally eligible establishments.
The transfer represents a serious coverage reversal from the Fed’s traditionally cautious stance towards crypto corporations, a number of of which have spent years combating for banking entry.
Companies like Custodia Bank and Kraken, which have pursued Fed grasp accounts by means of prolonged authorized battles, may benefit instantly from the streamlined approval course of.

Streamlined Fed Accounts Target Stablecoin and Fintech Providers
The proposed cost accounts would supply direct connections to Federal Reserve cost rails whereas sustaining danger controls absent from full grasp accounts.
“This cost account idea can be focused to supply primary Federal Reserve cost companies to legally eligible establishments that proper now conduct cost companies primarily by means of a third-party financial institution,” Waller acknowledged in his opening remarks.
Institutions receiving these accounts would face particular operational restrictions designed to restrict Fed steadiness sheet publicity.
Additionally, the accounts wouldn’t earn curiosity on deposited balances, they usually would possibly carry obligatory steadiness caps to regulate their dimension.
Participants would lose entry to sunlight overdraft privileges, which means transactions can be rejected as soon as account balances attain zero.
The accounts would additionally exclude low cost window borrowing and sure Fed cost companies the place the central financial institution can’t adequately management overdraft dangers.
“The thought is to tailor the companies of those new accounts to the wants of those companies and the dangers they current to the Federal Reserve Banks and the cost system,” Waller defined throughout his speech.
Waller additionally emphasised that each legally eligible entity may qualify for a cost account below present authorized frameworks, with no modifications to eligibility necessities.
“Payments innovation strikes quick, and the Federal Reserve must sustain,” Waller advised convention attendees.
Ripple and Anchorage Digital, each of which filed grasp account functions in 2025, may see accelerated choices below the proposed framework.
Industry Leaders Gather as Fed Shifts Stance on Digital Assets
The announcement drew speedy consideration at a convention bringing collectively crypto executives, together with Chainlink CEO Sergey Nazarov, Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas, and Circle President Heath Tarbert, alongside Fed officers.
“The defi trade will not be considered with suspicion or scorn,” Waller advised the roughly 100 private-sector innovators assembled on the Federal Reserve Board in Washington.
“Rather, at the moment, you might be welcomed to the dialog on the way forward for funds within the United States and on our house subject—one thing that will have been unimaginable a couple of years in the past,” he added.
During panel discussions, Sergey Nazarov identified main interoperability challenges throughout the conference’s opening panel on bridging conventional finance with digital property.
“Nazarov expressed appreciation for regulators’ energetic position, noting the importance of getting these essential conversations on the Federal Reserve itself,” based on stay convention protection.
Meanwhile, Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks, emphasised the benefits of blockchain custody throughout panel discussions on resilience and DeFi integration.
“Improving rules within the US are facilitating these discussions,” Shaulov acknowledged, referencing difficulties conventional financial institution IT groups face in adopting blockchain infrastructure.
Similarly, Jennifer Barker of BNY Mellon emphasised the necessity for collaboration between conventional finance and DeFi to permit seamless integration.
“DeFi allows 24/7 greenback actions beforehand unattainable for a lot of banks,” Barker famous in the course of the convention panels.
While the Fed has not specified an implementation timeline for the cost account proposal, Gov. Waller indicated that Fed workers would interact with stakeholders to assemble suggestions on the advantages and disadvantages earlier than finalizing the framework.
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BIG NEWS out of the