Regulation A: Extensions of Credit by Federal Reserve Banks
Key claim: The Federal Reserve proposes to amend Regulation A to explicitly bar holders of special-purpose payment accounts from accessing discount window credit at Reserve Banks.
Abstract
(Proposed Rule · Federal Reserve System) The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) proposes to amend its Regulation A (Extensions of Credit by Federal Reserve Banks) to specify that a holder of a proposed special-purpose payment account (a Payment Account) would not be eligible for access to discount window credit made available by the Federal Reserve Banks (Reserve Banks). The proposal would change neither the existing programs under which the Reserve Banks generally provide discount window credit (primary credit, secondary credit, and seasonal credit) nor the process for establishing the primary credit, secondary credit, and seasonal credit rates.
Why this matters
For special-purpose payment entities—most notably prospective stablecoin issuers—this proposal signals that even if they obtain Fed master accounts, they will be treated as a walled-off account class without either interest on reserves (Reg D) or emergency liquidity (Reg A). That structurally limits how ‘bank-like’ such entities can become and shapes the plumbing of the emerging payment-stablecoin regime. For traditional depository institutions, it clarifies that discount window access remains reserved for full-service banks.