Anchorage Digital: Fed's Proposed Payment Account Is Not a Viable Replacement for Traditional Master Accounts

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Anchorage Digital stated that the Federal Reserve’s proposed payment account cannot replace traditional master accounts. In its comment letter, Anchorage Digital supported the Fed’s efforts to modernize payment system access but noted that the proposed account lacks FedACH access, imposes overnight balance limits, provides no intraday liquidity, and does not pay interest on reserves, making it an unviable alternative to the master accounts held by member banks for over a century. Anchorage Digital also emphasized that the absence of FedACH access would force it to continue relying on intermediaries for daily payment settlements, and pointed out that a streamlined master account should include interest on reserves. Last year, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller proposed the concept of a “streamlined master account.”