Coinbase Backs Fed Payment Accounts, Seeks Interest and Risk-Based Oversight

Coinbase has filed comment letters in support of the Federal Reserve's proposed payment accounts, which would enable eligible financial institutions to clear and settle payments directly through the central bank's infrastructure. The exchange is advocating for three reforms: interest on a threshold amount of balances, overnight balance limits based on actual payment needs, and oversight commensurate with risks.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad called the proposed payment accounts 'an important step towards modernizing the U.S. payment system.' The exchange wants to ensure that payment accounts work in reality by implementing these reforms, which would lower costs, strengthen competition, and keep the U.S. at the frontier of global payments.

Coinbase also filed a comment letter with the CFTC on prediction markets, describing the proposal as 'a substantial improvement' over the existing rule. The exchange commended the agency for mandating separate inquiries into whether an event contract implicates an enumerated activity and is contrary to the public interest.