§5909 Custody of Payment Stablecoin Reserve and Collateral

Summary

People may only offer custody or safekeeping for payment stablecoin reserves, payment stablecoins used as collateral, or the private keys that control them if they are supervised by the main federal payment stablecoin regulator, another main federal financial regulator, or by a state bank or credit union supervisor that shares needed information with the federal Board. Such custodians must also follow the customer-protection rules in this law unless they already meet similar rules set by a federal payment stablecoin regulator, the SEC, or the CFTC. Custodians must treat customers’ stablecoins, private keys, cash, and other property as belonging to the customer and protect those assets from the custodian’s creditors. Assets must be kept separate from the custodian’s own assets, except in four cases: they can be pooled in omnibus accounts at banks for convenience; amounts needed to settle transfers or pay fees may be taken out; the federal payment stablecoin regulator can allow other kinds of pooling under rules; and insured banks may hold cash deposits consistent with federal law. A customer’s claim to assets has priority over others unless the customer agrees otherwise. Custodians must give the regulator information about how they protect customer assets. Companies that only sell hardware or software for customers to hold their own keys are not covered.