The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has updated its guidance to explicitly allow national trust banks to issue payment stablecoins. The move amends a previous staff letter and further clarifies the regulatory landscape following the passage of the GENIUS Act in 2025. Separately, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has proposed a framework for commercial bank subsidiaries to issue stablecoins under specific requirements.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reissued a staff letter on Friday to expand the criteria for payment stablecoins. The amendment now includes national trust banks, financial institutions operating in all 50 states, as eligible issuers of the fiat-pegged tokens.
The regulator amended Staff Letter 25-40, originally issued in December 2025. The CFTC stated that its Division of Market Participants did not intend to exclude these banks from the previous definition.
“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,” the letter said. This action reflects the evolving US regulatory climate for stablecoins.
The change follows the signing of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act into law by President Donald Trump in July 2025. That legislation created a comprehensive framework specifically for US dollar stablecoins.
In a parallel development, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) proposed a framework in December 2025 for commercial banks to issue stablecoins. The proposal allows issuance through a subsidiary subject to FDIC oversight.
Both the parent bank and its subsidiary must comply with GENIUS Act requirements. These include having clear redemption policies and sufficient collateral backing the stablecoin.
Required collateral must be in the form of cash deposits or short-term government securities like Treasury Bills. The GENIUS Act only recognizes overcollateralized stablecoins backed 1:1 by such assets.
Algorithmic stablecoins and synthetic dollars, which maintain pegs through software or trading strategies, were excluded from the regulatory framework. This delineates which stablecoin models are officially recognized under US law.
