Crypto Access To Banks In Focus After Trump’s New Executive Order

Wyoming’s special purpose depository institutions — companies built around crypto — could soon have a path to something they’ve long been denied: a Federal Reserve master account.

A new executive order signed by US President Donald Trump puts that possibility on the table, along with a broader push to open up the US banking system to crypto and financial technology companies.

The Fed’s Role Under Scrutiny

The order calls on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors to weigh whether uninsured depository institutions and non-bank financial companies that deal in digital assets should get direct access to Reserve Bank payment accounts and services.

It also asks the Fed to look at legal barriers to that access and, if current law allows it, to set up clear application procedures. Decisions on completed applications would need to come within 90 days.

That directive is one piece of a much larger policy move. Trump signed the order Monday, instructing federal regulators across multiple agencies to update their rules and clear the way for crypto and fintech firms to work alongside traditional financial institutions.

The order sets a government-wide goal of cutting unnecessary barriers to entry and encouraging cooperation between technology-driven financial companies and federally regulated banks.

LATEST: Trump just signed a new executive order that could change crypto banking in America and could open the US banking system to crypto and fintech companies.

The Fed has 120 days to study whether digital asset companies can use the same banking infrastructure as major banks.… pic.twitter.com/IvlE5qoGsw

— Bitinning (@bitinning) May 20, 2026

Agencies Given 90 Days To Act

The Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp are among the agencies called on to act. Each has been directed to review its current supervisory practices within 90 days, with specific attention to any policies blocking fintech firms from forming partnerships with federally regulated institutions.

Regulators are also being asked to look at how to make it easier for fintech companies to apply for bank charters, deposit insurance, and other federal approvals. The order states the review should uphold consumer protection, market integrity, and financial stability — not set those aside in favor of speed.

The order defines fintech broadly. It covers companies offering services tied to digital assets, blockchain infrastructure, payment processing, custody, lending, brokerage, and securities market operations.

The move stands in contrast to calls from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has pushed for tighter limits on banking access for crypto companies. Trump’s order runs in the opposite direction.

One side note drew attention the same day the order was signed. Trump’s media company, Truth Social, pulled its SEC filings for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, a combined Bitcoin-Ethereum ETF, and a crypto blue chip ETF — a move that sat awkwardly alongside the administration’s broader push to bring crypto further into the mainstream financial system.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView