CFTC Allows National Trust Banks to Issue Payment Stablecoins
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reissued a staff letter on Friday expanding the criteria for payment stablecoins to include national trust banks, affirming their eligibility to issue fiat-pegged tokens.
The agency amended Staff Letter 25-40, originally published on December 8, 2025, to add national trust banks, which are financial institutions authorized to operate across all 50 US states. These banks typically do not offer retail services such as lending or checking accounts and instead focus on custodial roles, executor functions, and asset management.
The letter stated: “The [Market Participants] Division did not intend to exclude national trust banks as issuers of payment stablecoins for purposes of Letter 25-40. Therefore, the division is reissuing the content of Letter 25-40, with an expanded definition of payment stablecoin.”
CFTC Staff Letter 26-05 updates the definition of payment stablecoins and acknowledges national trust banks as eligible issuers of fiat-pegged tokens. Source: CFTC
The update reflects the current US regulatory approach to stablecoins following the signing of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act into law by US President Donald Trump in July 2025. The GENIUS Act establishes a comprehensive framework for US dollar stablecoins, which are blockchain-based tokens pegged to the dollar.
FDIC outlines framework for bank-issued stablecoins
In December 2025, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) proposed a framework under which commercial banks could issue stablecoins.
The proposal would permit banks to issue the tokens through a subsidiary subject to FDIC oversight. The regulator would evaluate whether both the parent bank and the subsidiary comply with the GENIUS Act’s conditions for issuing stablecoins.
Those conditions include clear redemption policies, adequate collateral backing in the form of cash deposits and short-term government securities, and assessments of the overall financial condition of the bank and its subsidiary. Under the GENIUS Act, only overcollateralized stablecoins—backed 1:1 with fiat currency deposits or short-term government securities, such as US Treasury Bills—are recognized.
Algorithmic stablecoins and synthetic dollars, which use software mechanisms or complex market strategies to maintain a dollar peg, are excluded from the framework.
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