A federal financial regulator is informing US banks that they can adopt new technologies such as stablecoins for their payment functions.
In a new letter offering guidance to financial institutions, Jonathan Gould of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) says banks can use stablecoins for payments while serving as a node on an independent node verification networks (INVN).
“INVNs and related stablecoins represent new technological means of carrying out bank-permissible payment activities. We therefore conclude that a bank may validate, store, and record payments transactions by serving as a node on an INVN. Likewise, a bank may use INVNs and related stablecoins to carry out other permissible payment activities.”
The OCC says banks may buy and sell stablecoins as well as issue their own coins to facilitate payments. The largest dollar-pegged stablecoin currently is Tether (USDT) with a market capitalization of over $22 billion. USD Coin (USDC) follows with a market cap of over $4
