Credit union parity essential to compete in digital assets market

Credit unions must have parity with banks in the digital assets marketplace to ensure they remain competitive, America’s Credit Unions emphasized to the House Financial Services Committee in a letter sent Tuesday. The committee holds a hearing on digital assets Wednesday, and Nussle’s letter was submitted for the hearing’s record.

“We support legislative frameworks which assign to the NCUA primary responsibility for regulating the activities of credit unions. We also support federal oversight of nonbank issuers of stablecoins to ensure consistent supervision, anti-money laundering compliance, and application of safety and soundness expectations,” Nussle wrote.

The hearing is focused on a draft of the Digital Market Clarity Act, and America’s Credit Unions supports bill language including:

• Clarifying stablecoins cannot be treated as a bank deposit or credit union deposit under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act or the Federal Credit Union Act;
• Language that makes clear that credit unions that offer custody or safekeeping services for digital assets, including permitted payment stablecoins and digital commodities, are not required to hold assets held in custody as liabilities on their balance sheet; and
• The creation of a clear regulatory pathway for credit unions to safely offer digital commodity custody services provided they meet the oversight and compliance requirements. However, there is still some ambiguity in this section that should be addressed.

America’s Credit Unions also supports the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act, which defines the term insured depository institution to include credit unions and designates the NCUA as the primary federal payment stablecoin regulator for the credit union industry.