The FDIC is considering guidance on tokenized deposit insurance for banks that want to explore the option, and the agency plans to issue a proposal later this year to establish an application process for stablecoin issuers, FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill said.
Hill announced the FDIC is exploring guidance on tokenized deposit insurance during a conference yesterday held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, according to Bloomberg.
“My view for a long time has been that a deposit is a deposit,” Hill said, as reported by Bloomberg. “Moving a deposit from a traditional-finance world to a blockchain or distributed-ledger world shouldn’t change the legal nature of it.”
As for stablecoins, the FDIC and other agencies are in the process of implementing the Genius Act, which created a regulatory framework for the digital asset. Hill said the FDIC plans to issue a proposed application process for stablecoin issuers by year’s end, but he also said it remains unclear how extensive the agency’s role will be given it will only supervise stablecoins issued by FDIC-supervised entities, according to American Banker.
“It’s too early to say what that universe is going to be — whether that’s going to be a large universe or a small universe — but we are still required under the statute to issue rules for that potential universe,” Hill said., as reported by the publication. “The most immediate-term proposal we’re going to issue is one that sets up an application process, which is something that’s required under the statute.”
