Fed guarantees 2-day stablecoin payouts, but $76B remains blocked
The Federal Reserve has proposed requiring supervised payment-stablecoin issuers to disclose redemption procedures and normally redeem tokens within two business days, subject to checks and limited exceptions. The rule remains open for public comment and would govern issuers, not how exchanges handle customer withdrawals or conversions. Researchers estimated that centralized exchanges held at least $76 billion across 12 reserve-backed dollar stablecoins in July, but the total spans issuers with different rules and regulatory status. Circle and Tether impose eligibility requirements for direct redemption, while Coinbase says it is not obligated to repurchase USDC. During the March 2023 USDC stress episode, exchange balances first rose as supply shrank, then fell substantially, illustrating that wallet data do not reveal individual customers’ redemption routes or request timing.
