U.S. Lawmakers Unveil Bipartisan PACE Act for National Payments License

According to the bill’s framework, the bipartisan PACE Act would let compliant nonbank payment firms access Fedwire, FedNow and FedACH under OCC supervision, with 1:1 reserve, risk-control and recordkeeping requirements.

39d ago

Fact Check

The claim is substantially supported by the CoinDesk X post (https://x.com/CoinDesk/status/2046617195283628304), which explicitly says the PACE Act would allow qualified firms direct access to Federal Reserve payment rails and would reduce delays and fees. Eleanor Terrett's post (https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2046609188986683885) independently corroborates that lawmakers unveiled a bipartisan PACE Act creating a national payments license for fintech and crypto-related firms. The Politico Morning Money search result further aligns with the payment-rails access element. There is a minor conflict on which lawmakers are named in the available reports, and no official congressional bill text or lawmaker press release was successfully retrieved in this run, so confidence is medium rather than high.

Summary

Representatives Young Kim and Sam Liccardo introduced the bipartisan Payments Access and Consumer Efficiency (PACE) Act to create a national payments license and a streamlined federal registration process for qualified fintech and crypto payment companies. According to the bill’s official materials and reporting cited in the article, approved nonbank payment firms could gain direct access to Federal Reserve payment services and networks including Fedwire, FedNow and FedACH under an OCC-supervised federal framework. The proposal would require firms to maintain 1:1 reserves and comply with risk controls and recordkeeping requirements, while aiming to make transfers faster and less expensive for consumers and small businesses. Reporting also said the bill aligns with Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller’s “skinny master accounts” concept and would move final authority over those applications to the Federal Reserve Board rather than regional Reserve Banks. Industry groups including the Financial Technology Association, Blockchain Association, Digital Chamber, and Crypto Council for Innovation endorsed the proposal.

Terms & Concepts

FedNow: The Federal Reserve’s instant payment service designed to enable real-time money transfers between participating financial institutions in the United States.
Skinny master accounts: A proposed account structure discussed by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller that could let certain nonbank firms access Fed payment services without full traditional bank functions.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC): A U.S. federal banking regulator that supervises national banks and would oversee the federal framework described in the PACE Act proposal.