Coinbase Pushes for Payment Account Reforms

Coinbase has submitted comment letters to both the Federal Reserve and the CFTC in support of proposed payment accounts for crypto and fintech companies.

The exchange is advocating for three key 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 accounts 'an important step towards modernizing the U.S. payment system.'

The comment letters were submitted in response to a May 20 proposal by the Federal Reserve Board, which would enable eligible financial institutions to clear and settle payments directly through the central bank's infrastructure without full master-account status.

Coinbase also filed a separate comment letter with the CFTC on its proposed prediction-markets rulemaking, describing it as 'a substantial improvement' over existing rules.