According to Eleanor Terrett, Governor Chris Waller announced at the Federal Reserve Payments Innovation Conference that the Fed is proposing a limited-access master account, termed a skinny master account, to provide all legally eligible institutions direct access to the Fed’s payments rails without relying on partner banks; source: Eleanor Terrett, X, Oct 21, 2025. According to Eleanor Terrett, the skinny master account would not include services available to full master accounts such as borrowing from the Fed, and it would not change existing legal eligibility rules; source: Eleanor Terrett, X, Oct 21, 2025. According to Eleanor Terrett, the framework would allow the Fed to green-light innovative banks including fintechs, stablecoin issuers, and other payments companies for this limited-access account; source: Eleanor Terrett, X, Oct 21, 2025. According to Eleanor Terrett, firms specifically highlighted as beneficiaries include Custodia Bank and Kraken, with potential expedited access for Ripple (XRP) and Anchorage, all of which have sought master accounts or applied this year; source: Eleanor Terrett, X, Oct 21, 2025.

According to the source, stablecoin issuers are pursuing US bank charters, with Stripe’s Bridge entering the applicant queue, indicating an active push toward regulated banking status in the United States (source: the provided tweet dated Oct 15, 2025). For traders, this signals a developing regulatory pathway where official application disclosures and approval timelines can be monitored as concrete milestones for assessing issuer risk profiles and fiat on/off-ramp reliability (source: the provided tweet dated Oct 15, 2025).

According to the source, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions on Iranian actors tied to more than $100 million in illicit oil sales facilitated with cryptocurrency, signaling heightened enforcement against crypto-enabled sanctions evasion (source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control). Traders should immediately review the latest OFAC SDN list updates and any newly identified wallet addresses to avoid tainted-flow exposure that could trigger account restrictions or asset blocks on U.S.-linked venues (source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC Sanctions Compliance Guidance). Historical precedent shows rapid compliance responses such as address blacklisting by stablecoin issuers and exchanges after OFAC designations, implying near-term counterparty and liquidity risk for affected on-chain paths (source: Circle compliance update following OFAC’s Tornado Cash designation; U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC). Non-U.S. intermediaries that facilitate significant transactions with designated parties face secondary sanctions risk, increasing off-ramp friction and settlement delays for flows touching Iran-linked networks (source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC Iran sanctions program guidance).

According to @MilkRoadDaily, stablecoin issuers such as Tether and Circle indirectly hold about $150 billion in U.S. Treasuries. According to @MilkRoadDaily, that amount would rank them as the 12th-largest Treasury holder globally, ahead of many countries. According to @MilkRoadDaily citing Scott Bessent, these holdings tied to stablecoin reserves could reach $3.7 trillion by 2030.

According to Miles Deutscher, traders should pivot toward pick-and-shovel exposures as new chains proliferate, concentrating on liquidity providers that power these networks, infrastructure such as oracles and interoperability rails, revenue-generating applications with clear product–market fit, and stablecoin issuers and money markets, source: Miles Deutscher on X, Aug 14, 2025.

According to @akshat_hk, interest rate cuts directly compress profit margins for NIM-based stablecoin issuers such as USDC and USDT, making their business models less profitable. Conversely, rate cuts can trigger market dynamics that are bullish for ENA’s USDE yield, potentially increasing its attractiveness for yield-seeking traders. Crypto traders should monitor central bank rate policies closely, as these changes can alter stablecoin profitability and shift yield opportunities within the DeFi sector (source: @akshat_hk).

According to @nic__carter, despite legal efforts by the bank lobby to limit stablecoin utility by prohibiting yield, stablecoin issuers have already developed alternative methods to provide returns to users. This regulatory workaround may preserve stablecoins’ appeal as a trading asset and maintain liquidity in the crypto market, supporting ongoing demand and trading volumes for key stablecoins like USDT and USDC. Source: @nic__carter.