The bill classifies payment stablecoins as user assets rather than assets owned by the issuer.
United States Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand have jointly unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at creating a clear regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, according to an April 17 statement.
The proposed bill, known as the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act, hopes to “protect consumers, promote innovation, and advance the dominance of the U.S. dollar while maintaining a dual banking system.”
Senator Lummis said of the bill:
“This bill preserves our dual banking system and puts in place guardrails to protect consumers and prevent illicit financial activity, while ensuring we don’t hinder innovation.”
Stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC are some of the most popular digital assets in the cryptocurrency market. These assets are increasingly being used for payments, and U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Adewale Adeyemo recently claimed that Russia is using them, especially USDT, to circumvent economic sanctions.
Details of the bill
The bill is more targeted than previous initiatives, focusing on a framework for stablecoins to operate in the U.S. Key provisions include strict reserve requirements for issuers and operational guidelines.
Under the proposed legislation, issuers must be non-depository trust institutions registered with the Federal Reserve or depository institutions approved to issue stablecoins. At the same time, financial institutions seeking to enter the stablecoin field must establish a dedicated subsidiary for this purpose.
In addition, registered issuers must maintain full U.S. dollar backing for their stablecoins, effectively ruling out the use of algorithmic stablecoins. The bill also caps the amount of stablecoins that non-depository trust companies can issue, limiting it to $100 billion. Beyond this threshold, institutions must obtain authorization as a national payment stablecoin issuer.
In addition, in order to build customer confidence in the safety of funds, the bill establishes a “receivership system” with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The system stipulates priorities, validity of claims, and classifies payment stablecoins as user assets rather than belonging to the issuer.
Senator Gillibrand noted that the regulations “protect consumers by mandating one-to-one reserves, prohibiting algorithmic stablecoins, and requiring stablecoin issuers to comply with U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions rules.”#稳定币法案 #FDIC保险
