As the US Congress looks for ways to allow non-banks to issue stablecoins, Nellie Liang, the US Treasury’s undersecretary of finance for the interior, issued a statement.
US Treasury Department Official Says They Are Softening Their Old Solid Attitude On Stablecoin Companies
Liang said that institutions that used to think that stablecoin institutions should be audited as banks have now given up on these thoughts.
The President’s Financial Markets Working Group, which recommended last year that stablecoins be included in the regulated banking industry, Liang said at a Financial Services Forum event in Washington on Monday, cryptocurrency He said he doesn’t want to be overly strict about the way his companies achieve that goal.
“There is some flexibility in this framework,” he told reporters after speaking at the forum, adding: “It had to be open-ended. It was not supposed to be limited to existing banks.”
Treasury and other regulators in the working group said that while they want all stablecoin producers to be regulated for safety and soundness just like regular banks, they don’t need to have deposit insurance and can be subsidiaries or affiliates of bank holding companies.
Liang said that their previous goal was not to require stablecoins on deposit insurance, but to incorporate them into the banking system.
Liang said that those who issue tokens designed for stability by being indexed to assets such as the dollar cannot only be audited for the quality of their reserves, they need a new regulatory structure from Congress.
A Draft Law on the Subject is Drafted in the House of Representatives
While the deliberations in Congress, including the Treasury, are still in the early stages, a potential bill on the House Financial Services Committee tends to set rules for both banks and non-banks, according to people close to the talks.
“These are more than money market funds” for stablecoin producers, Liang said, adding that they therefore need new regulations that treat them as payment companies as well.