Garlinghouse focused his argument on the issue of the Federal Reserve’s master accounts, which allow institutions to interact directly with the central bank and its payment systems. Through its subsidiary Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple applied for a master account to hold reserves for its stablecoin, RLUSD, directly with the Fed.
He said crypto companies are willing to follow strict compliance and transparency rules. Yet, he added, they must also have equal access to financial infrastructure. “You can’t say one and then fight the other,” Garlinghouse said. He called the current position of traditional banks hypocritical and anti-competitive.
Master accounts provide financial institutions with direct access to payment clearing systems – a benefit currently reserved for traditional banks. Although several crypto companies have requested such access, they have been slow to approve them, leaving requests pending until 2025.
Garlinghouse explained that many crypto companies are legally qualified to apply for these accounts or national banking charters. Yet regulators have taken no public action, leaving applicants uncertain about their status. This inaction, he said, has kept parts of the crypto industry in a regulatory limbo.
