Crypto Welcome: Federal Reserve Opens Payment Rails To Digital Asset Firms

According to remarks by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher ￰1￱ at the Payments Innovation Conference on October 21, 2025, Fed staff are examining a new kind of account that would let certain non-bank firms connect directly to the central bank’s payment ￰2￱ have disclosed the idea is being called a “payment account” or informally a “skinny” master ￰3￱ The Federal Reserve Is Proposing The plan would stop short of giving full bank ￰4￱ accounts would likely not earn interest and would not have access to the Fed’s discount ￰5￱ caps and other risk limits are expected to be part of the ￰6￱ said staff are still working through the details and that the concept remains exploratory rather than a finalized ￰7￱ And Safeguards Regulators intend to keep ￰8￱ to public comments, only “legally eligible” entities would ￰9￱ phrase leaves open which corporate forms — for example, trust companies, state-chartered firms or other charter types — will be ￰10￱ opens the gates for fintech and crypto access Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller revealed today that the Fed is studying a new model of “payment accounts”.

Streamlined accounts that would allow fintech and crypto firms to access the Fed’s payment infrastructure,… ￰0￱ — StrongSHx (@StrongSHX) October 21, 2025 Reports note the accounts would be smaller in scope than a normal master account, with explicit restrictions aimed at reducing exposure to the payment system. Oversight, AML/KYC checks and operational risk controls are expected to be central to any application ￰11￱ This Matters Now Access to the Fed’s rails has long been limited to banks, which forced many fintech and crypto firms to rely on intermediary ￰12￱ directly, even in a limited way, could reduce steps in settlement and cut certain counterparty ￰13￱ is also context: the Fed withdrew earlier guidance on bank crypto activities this year — on April 24, 2025 — signaling a shift in tone toward integrating new players into ￰14￱ Stands To Gain Or Lose Crypto firms and stablecoin issuers could find it easier to move funds and settle ￰15￱ that currently provide access to non-banks may face stiffer competition for those ￰16￱ the same time, regulators and bank supervisors will still carry the burden of preventing fraud, illicit finance and operational ￰17￱ participants are likely to watch how the Fed coordinates with the OCC and the FDIC on questions of charters and deposit ￰18￱ image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView