The FDIC just released a 38-page proposed rule laying out how FDIC-supervised US banks can apply to issue their own payment stablecoins through a subsidiary. This is one of the first big implementation steps after the GENIUS Act that Trump signed back in July.
Under this framework, banks would apply to the FDIC, and the FDIC would review things like the institution’s financial condition, management, redemption policies, and overall safety and soundness before approval.
It’s a big deal because it pulls stablecoins closer into the regulated banking system (at least for the banks the FDIC supervises under this pathway). Right now most major stablecoins are still issued by crypto-native companies, not banks.
The total stablecoin market is already over $300 billion globally and it’s overwhelmingly dollar-pegged. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also argued stablecoins can help reinforce dollar dominance, which explains why the tone in DC has shifted so much.
This is still in the public comment phase, so nothing is final yet. But the direction is clear: regulators are building actual pipes for bank-issued stablecoins.
If banks start launching these at scale next year, that’s one of the cleaner bridges between tradfi and crypto we’ve seen.
What do you think … bullish adoption moment, or just more red tape?
