US Financial Sector in Direct Collision Over Crypto Access...Trump Opened the Door, So Why Did the Fed Block It?

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U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order appeared to be a turning point, opening up bank access for cryptocurrency companies. However, the Federal Reserve's (Fed) halt of master account reviews and discussions around 'skinny accounts' have intertwined, intensifying the clash between the crypto industry and the banking sector over U.S. financial infrastructure.

Cryptocurrency-focused YouTube channel Coin Bureau stated in a YouTube video uploaded on May 30 (local time) that U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order, signed on May 19, instructed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to remove barriers preventing crypto companies from accessing bank accounts within 90 days. However, the Federal Reserve separately put a brake on this by notifying the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks to suspend Stage 3 master account decisions until December 31, 2026.

Coin Bureau claimed that from 2022 to 2024, the FDIC, OCC, and the Federal Reserve pushed U.S. crypto companies out of the banking system by utilizing cease-and-desist letters, joint statements, and reputational risk criteria without formal rulemaking. A December 2025 House Financial Services Committee report stated that at least 30 crypto-related companies and individuals lost bank access, and explained that in the process of Coinbase demanding the disclosure of FDIC's cease-and-desist letters, a federal court recognized FDIC's violation of public disclosure laws, leading to a legal cost settlement of $188,440 in February 2026.

The video also presented the collapses of Silvergate and Signature Bank as key examples of the obstruction of cryptocurrency banking infrastructure. Following the FTX collapse, Silvergate saw $8.1 billion in digital asset deposits withdrawn in Q4 2022, reducing its crypto deposit book by 68%, incurred approximately $718 million in losses from securities sales, and borrowed $4.3 billion from the Federal Home Loan Bank. Signature Bank was closed in March 2023, and Coin Bureau reported that when the FDIC sold its assets to Flagstar Bank, it excluded approximately $4 billion in deposits related to the digital asset business, leading to the disappearance of the real-time payment platform Signet.

In the master account debate, the cases of Custodia Bank and Kraken diverged. Custodia Bank applied for a master account in October 2020 but was rejected in January 2023, and on March 13, 2026, its petition for rehearing was denied by a 7-3 vote in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Conversely, Kraken received the first limited master account from the same regional Federal Reserve Bank, but Coin Bureau pointed out that this 'skinny account' only provides Fedwire access, excluding discount window access, intraday credit, and interest on reserves, thereby assigning crypto companies the role of payment infrastructure without providing the safety net of traditional banks.

The banking sector's opposition focused on the expansion of the stablecoin market and concerns about deposit base erosion. Coin Bureau reported that the American Bankers Association (ABA), the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) opposed Kraken's national trust charter application, among others, and Elizabeth Warren submitted over 40 amendments to block Ripple, Anchorage Digital, Circle, and Custodia from accessing master accounts. McKinsey estimated that when $1,000 is converted into stablecoins, $850 effectively leaves the banking system, Citi projected deposit outflows of up to $1 trillion by 2030, and the ABA believed that a $2 trillion stablecoin market could reduce consumer, small business, and agricultural loans by more than one-fifth. USDC processed $21.5 trillion in on-chain transaction volume in Q1 2026, a 263% increase year-over-year.

Coin Bureau presented the end of the Fed's Stage 3 master account review suspension on December 31, 2026, whether the U.S. crypto market structure bill secures 60 votes in the Senate before the August 10 recess, Circle's stock price, and the November 2026 midterm elections as key variables. The bill passed the committee on May 14 with a 15-9 vote, with Polymarket assessing its chances of passing at 64%, Galaxy Research at 50/50, and TD Cowen at one-third. Coin Bureau highlighted that the Fed's decisions over the next 90 days and until the end of 2026 will be variables determining crypto companies' bank access, stablecoin issuers' growth potential, and the status of crypto companies within the U.S. financial infrastructure.

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