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 Without one, a chartered institution depends on correspondent banks whose services can be withdrawn at any time.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