SEC Just Made a Huge Change to American Stablecoins
The post SEC Just Made a Huge Change to American Stablecoins appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has paved the way for Wall Street to integrate stablecoins into traditional finance. On February 19, the financial regulator issued guidance allowing broker-dealers to apply a 2% “haircut” to positions in payment stablecoins. A haircut is the percentage of an asset’s value that a financial institution cannot count toward its deployable capital, acting as a customer-protection buffer against market risk. SEC Stablecoin Pivot Pressures Brokers to Build Crypto Rails Previously, broker-dealers faced a punitive 100% haircut on stablecoins. If a financial firm held $1 million in digital dollars to facilitate rapid on-chain settlement, it had to lock up that capital. Yesterday, the Division of Trading and Markets issued an FAQ confirming that staff would not object if a broker-dealer were to apply a 2% haircut on proprietary positions in payment stablecoins when calculating its net capital. Link to the FAQ ➡️ https://t.co/x7rOhtx8fo — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) February 20, 2026 That requirement effectively made institutional crypto trading economically radioactive for traditional financial institutions. By dropping the capital penalty to 2%, the SEC has granted compliant stablecoins the same economic treatment as traditional money market funds. “This is another terrific step in the right direction from our team in the Division of Trading and Markets to remove barriers and unlock access to on-chain markets,” SEC Chair Paul Atkins said. Interestingly, this pivot is heavily anchored in the newly passed GENIUS Act. This is a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins in the US. It mandates 1:1 reserve backing and strengthens anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce noted that the new legislation forces stringent reserve requirements for stablecoin issuers. According to her, these requirements are even stricter than those applied to government money market funds, which justify the reduced capital penalty.…
Filed under: News - @ February 21, 2026 1:16 pm