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The Federal Reserve took its most concrete step yet toward opening U.S. payment infrastructure to crypto-focused institutions on May 20, 2026, when Governor Christopher Waller announced the central bank is formally exploring "skinny" master accounts that would give qualifying firms access to Fed payment rails on a "streamlined timeline."
The announcement came one day after President Trump signed an executive order directing financial regulators — including the Fed — to review their frameworks for granting uninsured depository institutions and non-bank financial companies access to payment accounts and services. That order also asked the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks whether they can independently approve master account applications without board sign-off, a question with direct implications for institutions like Kraken that operate as Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institutions (SPDIs).
What a master account actually grants — and what 'skinny' doesn't
A standard Fed master account is the direct conduit to U.S. payment rails: Fedwire (for large-value wire transfers) and FedACH (for automated clearing house payments). Every federally chartered bank holds one; crypto firms have not. For years, companies including Ripple and Anchorage Digital have sought master accounts and been denied or left in procedural limbo.
A "skinny" master account is explicitly not a full account. According to the Fed's December 2025 request for information — the formal precursor to Waller's May 20 remarks — these "payment accounts" would not pay interest on reserve balances, would carry balance caps to limit the Fed's balance sheet exposure, and would not grant access to the discount window. They are designed, in Waller's framing, for institutions that need payments access and nothing more.
Kraken's experience illustrates the practical limits. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City approved Kraken Financial — operating as a Wyoming SPDI — for a limited-purpose account earlier this year, making it the first digital asset firm to secure any form of Fed account. But as Kraken subsequently disclosed, that account excludes interest on reserves, emergency lending access, FedNow, and FedACH. What Kraken gained is access to Fedwire for wholesale settlement — meaningful, but not equivalent to what a chartered bank holds.
The pipeline
Reuters reporting identified Ripple and Anchorage Digital alongside Kraken as firms seeking Fed payment access. Ripple applied for a national trust banking charter and a master account in July 2025. Anchorage Digital, which holds a national trust bank charter from the OCC, has also sought direct Fed access. The Trump executive order's instruction to review whether regional Fed banks can act independently of the board is particularly relevant here: Kansas City's approval of Kraken's account required no Washington sign-off, and the same path could theoretically be available to other SPDIs.
Why the structural shift matters
The sequence — Waller's October 2025 speech, the December 2025 RFI, Kraken's approval, the May 19 executive order, and now Waller's May 20 streamlined-timeline announcement — represents a genuine policy reversal. For most of the past five years, applications from crypto-native firms were denied, withdrawn under regulatory pressure, or simply left pending. The Fed's posture was effectively a soft veto.
A formal "skinny" account pathway changes the infrastructure calculus for custody, stablecoin settlement, and institutional DeFi. A crypto firm with direct Fedwire access can settle dollar transactions without routing through a correspondent bank, removing both the counterparty dependency and the correspondent's discretion to terminate the relationship. For stablecoin issuers in particular — who need to move large-value dollar settlements quickly — that is the operational moat a full bank holds and a crypto firm currently does not.
The proposal is still a prototype. Waller described the May 20 remarks as an update on staff exploration, not a finalized rule. A formal rulemaking would require public comment and board approval. But the direction is no longer ambiguous.
Sources: Federal Reserve Board press release, December 19, 2025 (federalreserve.gov); Governor Waller statement, December 19, 2025; CoinDesk reporting on Trump executive order, May 19–20, 2026; Kraken Financial X announcement; PYMNTS reporting on Kraken account restrictions, citing Reuters, April 2026; ICBA statement on executive order, May 19, 2026.