#McWilliams

Like all of you, we at FedFin spend a lot of time watching the U.S. Congress, but I’m increasingly wondering why.  Sure, there’s the blood and guts.  Watching Congressional deliberations is more and more like being a spectator at a hockey game for the fights or NASCAR races for the next fiery crash.  Does any of this carnage really matter?  Not much when it comes to vital, urgent financial policy questions such as what money has come to be in the United States.  With Congress mired in a never-ending cock fight, regulators hold the fate of finance mostly in their own fierce grip.  Even without deployment of the Fed’s nuclear CBDC option, two developments last week show clearly how much power regulators have to redefine U.S. digital currency.

First, there was outgoing FDIC Chair McWilliams’ offhand suggestion in her final remarks that stablecoins have all the characteristics of fiat currency deposits and thus could be eligible for FDIC insurance under current law.  As soon as he took the helm, Acting FDIC Chairman Gruenberg demanded tough cryptocurrency regulation, but he didn’t rule out deposit status for at least some stablecoins if the agency was satisfied with their stability.

The impact of an FDIC decision deeming at least some stablecoins to be deposits is hard to over-estimate.  As I detail in my book, what’s actually in a bank deposit isn’t what most people think they hold, i.e., a virtual pile of dollars.  In fact, money in the bank is …

Like all of you, we at FedFin spend a lot of time watching the U.S. Congress, but I’m increasingly wondering why.  Sure, there’s the blood and guts.  Watching Congressional deliberations is more and more like being a spectator at a hockey game for the fights or NASCAR races for the next fiery crash.  Does any of this carnage really matter?  Not much when it comes to vital, urgent financial policy questions such as what money has come to be in the United States.  With Congress mired in a never-ending cock fight, regulators hold the fate of finance mostly in their own fierce grip.  Even without deployment of the Fed’s nuclear CBDC option, two developments last week show clearly how much power regulators have to redefine U.S. digital currency.

First, there was outgoing FDIC Chair McWilliams’ offhand suggestion in her final remarks that stablecoins have all the characteristics of fiat currency deposits and thus could be eligible for FDIC insurance under current law.  As soon as he took the helm, Acting FDIC Chairman Gruenberg demanded tough cryptocurrency regulation, but he didn’t rule out deposit status for at least some stablecoins if the agency was satisfied with their stability.

The impact of an FDIC decision deeming at least some stablecoins to be deposits is hard to over-estimate.  As I detail in my book, what’s actually in a bank deposit isn’t what most people think they hold, i.e., a virtual pile of dollars.  In fact, money in the bank is …