FDIC mulling guardrails for banks, public blockchains

• Key insight: Banks may get clearer guidelines about what activities they are permitted to engage in on public blockchains in the future. 
• Supporting data: FDIC Chair Travis Hill told the DC Blockchain Summit that customer identification and privacy in public blockchains are areas that need to be bolstered. 
• Forward look: The agency could propose durable rules for safe engagement with permissionless systems after stablecoin regulations are issued. 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Travis Hill said Wednesday that rescinding a Biden-era guidance discouraging banks from interacting with public blockchains corrected an overly "restrictive" stance, but added that further guidance on know-your-customer and customer privacy may still be necessary to shore up risks related to those interactions in the long-term.

Hill, speaking at the DC Blockchain Summit 2026, said that while his immediate focus is on implementing the GENIUS Act, the agency could eventually propose rules outlining how banks can safely engage with permissionless systems, where counterparties and transaction flows are harder to verify.

"That ability to be able to interact with these platforms is essential, [but] we do continue to think about what potential risks there could be that are involved, privacy considerations, [Know-Your-Customer] considerations, things like that," Hill said. "I have talked in the past about whether there could be some value, at some point, in having some standards for banks' engagement with public blockchains … the goal would be something that has durability over time."

The FDIC in 2025 rescinded its 2022 crypto guidance on banks from engaging with public, permissionless blockchains, signaling the second Trump administration's embrace of crypto and highlighting the contrast between it and the Biden administration. Regulators in the Biden administration were particularly skeptical of permissionless blockchains, which are open networks anyone can access without approval.

Former Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, in June 2023, said, "the non-permissioned nature of public blockchains makes them attractive to criminals and others engaged in illicit finance and full compliance with anti-money-laundering rules is extremely difficult for crypto intermediaries to achieve."

The FDIC's 2022 letter required banks under the agency's purview to notify regulators of planned crypto-related activities in advance. Last year's policy change lifted the prior approval requirements, giving banks more leeway to manage the risks of crypto-activities prudently and comply with the law. 

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed concern with the risks of public blockchains and their lack of transparency. 

Stablecoin

OCC needs input on proposed stablecoin implementation rule

March 17, 2026 1:10 PM

By Ebrima Santos Sanneh

In 2023, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the CANSEE Act that would have imposed anti-money laundering requirements on decentralized finance platforms, arguing that permissionless blockchains enable "rampant money laundering and sanctions evasion." The bill sought to hold large token holders and protocol operators accountable under the Bank Secrecy Act, like banks already are.

Hill's tenure has signaled a shift compared with his predecessor Martin Gruenberg, who argued permissionless blockchains create major money laundering and compliance issues. Hill gestured toward the issue early into his term.

"While a complete prohibition on interacting with public chains is clearly too restrictive, what guardrails would be prudent? How should we view public chains that operate in a permissioned manner?" Hill asked, in April last year. "The banking agencies will need to formally revisit the January 2023 and February 2023 interagency guidance and develop durable standards for the responsible use of public chains, as well as other activities implicated by the guidance."