Acting US FDIC head cautiously optimistic about permissioned stablecoins for payments

cointelegraph.com:

Acting United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chairman Martin Gruenberg spoke Oct. 20 about possible applications of stablecoins and the FDIC’s approach to banks considering engaging in crypto asset-related activities. Although he saw no evidence of their value, Gruenberg conceded that payment stablecoins merit further consideration.

Gruenberg began his talk at the Brookings Institute with an expression of frustration seemingly common among many regulators:

In light of those difficulties, the FDIC has said it is striving to gather crucial information to aid it in comprehending and eventually providing supervisory feedback on crypto assets through letters banks are required to use to inform the agency of their crypto-related activities. Customers and insured institutions need a better understanding of how the FDIC works as well, Gruenberg noted.

Related: Crypto adoption: How FDIC insurance could bring Bitcoin to the masses

Moving on to stablecoins, Gruenberg said that, although “there has been no demonstration so far of their value in terms of the broader payments system” than the crypto ecosystem, payment stablecoins — those “designed specifically as an instrument to satisfy the consumer and business need” for real-time payments — may merit consideration. This is in spite of the fact that their benefits largely overlap those of the non-blockchain FedNow system that is expected to premier next year.

Gruenberg sounds skeptical that the benefits of payment stablecoins would outweight the rollout of FedNow, a real-time payment system we're expecting the government to release in the spring. But notably, he says "there may be merit" to continued study here. pic.twitter.com/0G7GP8MoNz

A payment stablecoin could