Anchorage Digital Urges Equal Access for Stablecoin Payments
Stablecoins, digital tokens generally pegged to fiat currencies, are moving beyond crypto trading toward round-the-clock payment and settlement infrastructure. Their global circulating value has surpassed $300 billion, with dollar-linked tokens dominant, making regulation a question of U.S. monetary influence as well as financial efficiency. Anchorage Digital Bank, chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in January 2021, was the first federally chartered U.S. digital-asset bank.
Anchorage Digital Chief Operating Officer Rachel Anderika said stablecoins are likely to become largely invisible plumbing beneath everyday digital payments, provided issuance and settlement sit inside a credible supervisory framework. The Federal Reserve on May 20, 2026, proposed a limited Payment Account for eligible institutions. Anchorage says the design is second-class because it excludes FedACH, caps overnight balances, offers no intraday liquidity and pays no interest on reserve balances; it wants qualifying federally chartered banks connected on equal terms.
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The history behind this eventStablecoins Set to Reinforce Dollar Dominance, Fed Conference Says
The U.S. dollar remains the leading currency for foreign exchange, cross-border payments, official reserves and international financing, supported by deep U.S. markets and confidence in American institutions. Dollar-backed stablecoins are increasingly extending that infrastructure onto blockchains, giving households and businesses new ways to hold and transfer dollar value. Their growth matters because it could broaden access to dollar finance and reshape payment intermediation without displacing the currency’s underlying global role.
The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York held the fifth Conference on the International Roles of the U.S. Dollar in Washington on June 22-23, 2026. Research presented there showed USDC and USDT circulation reached $263 billion in December 2025, while monthly on-chain volume hit $6.2 trillion, about four times Bitcoin’s. Speakers said stablecoin rails can complement correspondent banking, lower some cross-border costs and reinforce dollar use in international payments, trade and settlement.
Stablecoins Usher Digital Payments Into a New Era
Stablecoins began as dollar-pegged instruments that allowed crypto traders to avoid price volatility. They are now gradually becoming core infrastructure for corporate cross-border payments and treasury management. Traditional high-value B2B payments rely on Swift messaging and post-transaction reconciliation, and transactions exceeding $5,000 can take days to settle. Tether's USDT, Circle and Ripple are moving into this market with real-time, around-the-clock settlement.
On March 9, 2026, First Digital CEO Vincent Chok discussed agentic payments at Abu Dhabi Finance Week. On March 16, Mansa Chief Operating Officer Nkiru Uwaje forecast that adoption among licensed providers could reach 70%–80% over the next 24 months. On May 14, CoinDesk reported that stablecoins were already being used for supplier payments and corporate treasury operations.
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