12 U.S. Code § 5909 - Custody of payment stablecoin reserve and collateral

(a) In general

A person may only engage in the business of providing custodial or safekeeping services for the payment stablecoin reserve, the payment stablecoins used as collateral, or the private keys used to issue permitted payment stablecoins if the person—

(1) is subject to—

(A) supervision or regulation by a primary Federal payment stablecoin regulator or a primary financial regulatory agency described under subparagraph (B) or (C) of section 5301(12) of this title; or

(B) supervision by a State bank supervisor, as defined under section 1813 of this title, or a State credit union supervisor, as defined under section 6003 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (31 U.S.C. 5311 note), and such State bank supervisor or State credit union supervisor makes available to the Board such information as the Board determines necessary and relevant to the categories of information under subsection (d); and

(2) complies with the requirements under subsection (b), unless such person holds such property in accordance with similar requirements as required by a primary Federal payment stablecoin regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

(b) Customer property requirement

A person described in subsection (a) shall, with respect to other property described in that subsection—

(1) treat and deal with the payment stablecoins, private keys, cash, and other property of a person for whom or on whose behalf the person described in that subsection receives, acquires, or holds payment stablecoins, private keys, cash, and other property (hereinafter referred to in this section as the “customer”) as belonging to such customer and not as the property of such person; and

(2) take such steps as are appropriate to protect the payment stablecoins, private keys, cash, and other property of a customer from the claims of creditors of the person.

(c) Commingling prohibited

(1) In general

Payment stablecoin reserves, payment stablecoins, cash, and other property of a permitted payment stablecoin issuer or customer shall be separately accounted for by a person described in subsection (a) and shall be segregated from and not be commingled with the assets of the person.

(2) Exceptions

Notwithstanding paragraph (1) or subsection (b)—

(A) the payment stablecoin reserves, payment stablecoins, cash, and other property of a permitted payment stablecoin issuer or customer may, for convenience, be commingled and deposited in an omnibus account holding the payment stablecoin reserves, payment stablecoins, cash, and other property of more than 1 permitted payment stablecoin issuer or customer at a State chartered depository institution, an insured depository institution, national bank, or trust company, and any payment stablecoin reserves in the form of cash held in the form of a deposit liability at a depository institution shall not be subject to any requirement relating to the separation of such cash from the property of the applicable depository institution;

(B) such share of the payment stablecoin reserves, payment stablecoins, cash, and other property of the permitted payment stablecoin issuer or customer that shall be necessary to transfer, adjust, or settle a transaction or transfer of assets may be withdrawn and applied to such purposes, including the payment of commissions, taxes, storage, and other charges lawfully accruing in connection with the provision of services by a person described in subsection (a);

(C) in accordance with such terms and conditions as a primary Federal payment stablecoin regulator may prescribe by rule, regulation, or order, any payment stablecoin reserves, payment stablecoins, cash, and other property described in this subsection may be commingled and deposited in permitted payment stablecoin issuer or customer accounts with payment stablecoin reserves, payment stablecoins, cash, and other property received by the person and required by the primary Federal payment stablecoin regulator to be separately accounted for, treated as, and dealt with as belonging to such permitted payment stablecoin issuers or customers; or

(D) an insured depository institution that provides custodial or safekeeping services for payment stablecoin reserves shall be permitted to hold payment stablecoin reserves in the form of cash on deposit provided such treatment is consistent with Federal law.

(3) Customer priority

With respect to payment stablecoins held by a person described in subsection (a) for a customer, with or without the segregation required under paragraph (1), the claims of the customer against such person with respect to such payment stablecoins shall have priority over the claims of any person other than the claims of another customer with respect to payment stablecoins held by such person described in subsection (a), unless the customer expressly consents to the priority of such other claim.

(d) Regulatory information

A person described under subsection (a) shall submit to the applicable primary Federal payment stablecoin regulator information concerning the person’s business operations and processes to protect customer assets, in such form and manner as the primary regulator shall determine.

(e) Exclusion

The requirements of this section shall not apply to any person solely on the basis that such person engages in the business of providing hardware or software to facilitate a customer’s own custody or safekeeping of the customer’s payment stablecoins or private keys.

(Pub. L. 119–27, § 10, July 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 455.)

Delayed Effective Date of Section

For delayed effective date of section, see Effective Date note below.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Section 6003 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, referred to in subsec. (a)(1)(B), is section 6003 of Pub. L. 116–283, div. F, Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4548, which is set out as a note under section 5311 of Title 31, Money and Finance.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective on the earlier of the date that is 18 months after July 18, 2025, or the date that is 120 days after the date on which the primary Federal payment stablecoin regulators issue any final regulations implementing Pub. L. 119–27, see section 20 of Pub. L. 119–27, set out as a note under section 5901 of this title.