The stablecoin bill is now law. What’s next for banks?
By Claire Williams
WASHINGTON — Now that President Donald Trump has signed the stablecoin bill into law, banks are gearing up to lobby regulators as they make rules that could either further threaten or protect banks’ traditional turf.
The stablecoin bill poses both an existential threat and opportunity for bankers, experts say….”The issues on which we’re more focused with our banking clients are really the rules that will be forthcoming about how the nonbank issuers can engage on stablecoin,” said Karen Petrou, co-founder of Federal Financial Analytics. “There certainly is the question of the extent to which a bank holding company or an insurance or subsidiary of an IDI could engage in stablecoins. But the bigger issue from most of our clients is what the marketplace is likely to look like and who’s coming at them.” The Fed is also responsible for a key piece. The stablecoin bill says that master account status for nonbank payment stablecoins maintains the status quo, not explicitly banning nonbanks from access. “Arguably, the Fed has the authority to open master accounts,” Petrou said. “Now, that’s what the stablecoin issuers believe. Banks say no, and the status quo says ‘back over to you, Fed — you decide.”
https://www.americanbanker.com/news/the-stablecoin-bill-is-now-law-whats-next-for-banks