Challenging A Framework That Lets Discretion Override Statutory Access To The Federal Reserve’s Payment System

Winston Taylor filed an amicus brief on behalf of The Digital Chamber in Custodia Bank, Inc. v. Federal Reserve Board of Governors, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to address a question with direct implications for digital assets, financial innovation, and the future of the U.S. payments infrastructure: Does the Monetary Control Act permit Regional Reserve Banks to deny master accounts to eligible depository institutions?

A master account is direct access to the nation's payment rails. Without one, a chartered institution depends on correspondent banks whose services can be withdrawn at any time. One Tenth Circuit judge called a Bank’s denial of access to a master account “akin to a death sentence.” Under the Fed's Account Access Guidelines many institutions designed to serve the digital assets sector are relegated to Tier 3 review when seeking a master account, which a member of the Board has described as “unobtanium,” suggesting that those banks, despite statutory mandate, would never receive a master account.

Our brief explains the significance of the question and why it demands resolution now:

• Master accounts provide critical access. Without one, a financial institution cannot directly access the Federal Reserve's payment system and must instead rely on private intermediaries, increasing costs and creating risk.

• Digital asset businesses face heightened barriers. Under the Fed’s Account Access Guidelines, many institutions serving the digital assets sector are subject to rigorous level of review without concrete justification, creating uncertainty around access to core financial infrastructure, and rendering master account access virtually unobtainable.

• Discretion has proven unstable in both directions. Between 2022 and 2025, supervisory measures effectively cut off many lawful digital assets businesses from banking services. Within roughly a year, every one of those measures was reversed. A favorable policy resting on unreviewable discretion is no more durable than the unfavorable one it replaced. This underscores the fragility of correspondent banking relationships in this environment and the importance of statutory access to master accounts.

• The GENIUS Act raises the stakes. Congress has authorized a new class of payment stablecoin issuers whose business models may depend on access to Federal Reserve accounts. Congress authorized payment stablecoin issuers to hold reserves at Federal Reserve Banks yet, under the decision below, an issuer that satisfies every statutory requirement can still be denied the account those functions require. The GENIUS Act takes effect on January 18, 2027.

• The question should be decided before the Board entrenches a system built on this premise. The Board is finalizing a payment account framework that presupposes access to master accounts is discretionary, with the rule targeted for the end of 2026 and the GENIUS Act taking effect in January 2027. Decisions on pending applications are paused, so no other case will reach the Court before the framework is in place.

The brief was filed by Daniel Stabile, Thania Charmani, Andrew Hinkes, Logan Payne, and Spencer Peek of Winston Taylor.

While particularly consequential to the digital assets sector, the case presents fundamental questions about how access to critical financial infrastructure is governed and how emerging financial technologies will integrate into the U.S. banking system.

Read the full brief.