U.S. banking regulators on Friday released proposed guidance on third-party risk management for banks and credit unions. The proposal was issued by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration. The agencies said the draft is meant to help institutions better tailor their third-party risk management practices to the risk profile of each outside relationship. In a memo, Federal Reserve staff said the proposal comes as banks increasingly outsource certain functions and rely on third-party arrangements to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The proposal is nonbinding and will be open for public comment, with the agencies framing supervision around a principles-based approach. Federal Reserve Governor Barr opposed the proposal, citing concerns about the standard for what counts as a 「material financial risk」.

The Blockchain Association has asked U.S. federal regulators to keep stablecoin customer identification rules focused on direct relationships between issuers and their customers, arguing that pushing those requirements into peer-to-peer transfers would be unworkable and harmful to the sector. In an August 21 comment letter sent to FinCEN, the OCC, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the NCUA, the group responded to proposed rules tied to the GENIUS Act, the law signed in June last year that set a framework for the legal issuance and use of dollar-pegged stablecoins in the United States. The association, led in this filing by CEO Summer K. Mersinger, backed regulators for excluding secondary transfers from Customer Identification Program obligations, while asking for clearer limits around wallet-to-wallet transfers, one-off redemptions, technology providers, and unrelated business lines. It also called for liability protections when issuers rely on regulated financial institutions to perform identity checks, support for digital identity tools and interoperable verification technology, and coordination with pending anti-money laundering and sanctions rules so issuers do not have to repeatedly rebuild compliance systems.

Bitcoin Magazine reports that DaLand CUSO and Circuit, an 80-member credit union collaborative, have moved their digital asset initiative into implementation. The program gives participating credit unions access to DaLand’s CODE Engine and Coin2Core, which integrate digital asset tools into core banking systems from Corelation KeyStone, Fiserv DNA and Jack Henry Symitar. Three credit unions are already live: St. Cloud Financial Credit Union, which issued its own stablecoin, $CLDUSD; Canvas Credit Union, a $5 billion institution that became a DaLand owner after deployment; and Blaze Credit Union, which also invested as an owner. DaLand says the live footprint now covers credit unions with more than $10 billion in combined assets. Executives said the move shifts the focus from studying digital assets to deploying them. The announcement also comes as the GENIUS Act and other federal digital-asset bills push financial institutions to formalize their crypto plans.

AmericasCUs and credit union leagues from all 50 U.S. states are backing most of the Clarity Act, while asking senators to strengthen the bill’s language on stablecoin yield provisions. The position came days after former National Credit Union Administration, or TheNCUA, Chairman Rodney Hood said credit unions have an important role to play in modernizing the financial system, according to a post on X by a Fox Business crypto reporter. The groups said the current Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise could still permit what they described as a "functionally passive" rewards structure. In their view, that could pull deposits away from local credit unions. Their stance aligns with concerns already raised by parts of the banking industry over how the legislation handles stablecoin-related rewards. The latest comments add another industry voice to the debate over how lawmakers should frame stablecoin rules without creating pressure on traditional deposit bases.

Stablecore has launched an early access program with Circuit and Curql, allowing more than 160 US credit unions to test stablecoin payments, tokenized deposits, Bitcoin services, crypto ramps, and staking across roughly $25 billion in assets.

Stablecore launched an early access stablecoin and digital asset program for U.S. credit unions managing roughly $25 billion in combined assets, enabling them to test blockchain services before full rollout.

U.S. regulators proposed requiring certain payment stablecoin issuers to run customer identification programs under the GENIUS Act framework, while generally excluding secondary market transfers from those obligations.

The GAO warned the FDIC that earlier blockchain oversight recommendations remain only partly implemented, while new stablecoin duties and lessons from the 2023 bank failures keep pressure on U.S. regulators.