President Donald Trump signed two financial executive orders on May 19, creating a fresh policy opening for fintech and digital-asset firms while adding new pressure around customer identification, illicit finance and banking risk.
The fintech order pushes federal financial regulators to review rules, guidance, supervisory practices and application processes that may slow innovation, competition or partnerships between fintech firms and federally regulated institutions. Digital assets are directly included in the policy language, with the government now moving to integrate digital assets and innovative technology into traditional financial services and payment systems.
The most important crypto piece sits at the Federal Reserve. The Fed is being asked to evaluate the legal and policy framework around Reserve Bank payment accounts and payment services for uninsured depository institutions, non-bank financial companies and firms engaged in digital assets or other novel financial activity. The report is due within 120 days and must assess whether existing law allows broader direct access, what restrictions would be needed, and whether the 12 Reserve Banks should follow a consistent approval process.
For crypto companies, that could turn the master-account fight from a case-by-case battle into a clearer policy track. Kraken Financial already won direct Fed payment-rail access, while Ripple, Anchorage Digital and other firms have been tied to similar ambitions. Direct access can reduce reliance on intermediary banks, improve payment settlement and strengthen the banking layer behind exchanges, stablecoin issuers, custodians and institutional crypto platforms.
Regulators Face Deadlines To Review Old Barriers
Federal financial regulators now have 90 days to identify rules and practices that could be updated to support fintech entry, partnerships, licenses, registrations, charters and other approvals. They then have 180 days to take steps that encourage innovation after that review.
The order covers a wide range of activity, including payment processing, lending, deposit-taking, derivatives, investment management, brokerage, underwriting, capital markets, custody, fiduciary services, digital banking, digital asset services, securities and commodities markets, and blockchain-based services. That gives crypto firms a broad policy hook across payments, custody, trading, tokenization and bank partnerships.
The timing lands as U.S. crypto regulation is already moving through several tracks. The CLARITY Act has cleared Senate Banking, stablecoin rules are advancing under the GENIUS framework, and banking regulators have been pulling back from earlier crypto restrictions. The new order adds another layer: crypto companies may get a more formal path into regulated financial infrastructure, but the agencies still have to balance innovation with safety, soundness, investor protection, market integrity and financial stability.
Financial Integrity Order Tightens Compliance Pressure
A second May 19 order focuses on illicit finance, customer due diligence and credit-risk controls. Treasury must issue a formal advisory within 60 days covering suspicious activity patterns tied to payroll tax evasion, hidden beneficial ownership, off-the-books wage payments, structuring, labor trafficking, unregistered money services businesses, third-party payment processors and peer-to-peer platforms.
Bank Secrecy Act rules are also heading for review. Treasury and federal financial regulators must propose changes within 90 days to strengthen risk-based customer due diligence, including stronger identity checks for nominal and beneficial account owners when illicit finance, sanctions evasion, fraud or other unlawful activity is at issue. A separate 180-day review will consider tighter customer identification program rules, including risks tied to foreign consular identification cards.
Crypto firms should read the two orders together. One side opens the door to more direct participation in regulated payment infrastructure. The other side raises the compliance bar for firms that touch payment flows, customer accounts, money transmission, stablecoins, digital asset custody or cross-border transfers.
The policy shift gives crypto companies a clearer route to argue for banking access, especially around master accounts and payment services. It also makes stronger AML controls, ownership checks, sanctions screening, account-risk monitoring and payment-flow surveillance harder to treat as optional. The next deadlines fall 60, 90, 120 and 180 days from May 19, with the Fed’s payment-access report likely to become the most important crypto-specific document in the sequence.
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