The Fed Board members’ comments last night were explosive—they no longer see cryptocurrencies as “outlaws” and are even preparing to open a dedicated fast track for the industry: the so-called “streamlined master account.” Don’t underestimate this; it’s essentially a key that plugs directly into the Fed’s core payment network.

What does this mean? In the future, major stablecoin issuers (like Circle, the company behind USDC) could bypass traditional banks as intermediaries and connect directly with the central bank. Settlement efficiency? Maxed out. Costs? Drastically reduced. In short, the Fed is effectively issuing a “birth certificate” for stablecoins and plans to connect them to the national financial arteries.

So, who will reap the first wave of benefits?

**On the stablecoin side,** compliant “regular army” players like USDC and USDP will take off. With central bank endorsement, both credibility and efficiency will multiply, opening up massive new possibilities.

**On the infrastructure front,** Custodia Bank, which has been eyeing a Fed master account for ages, finally gets its shot. Exchanges and payment companies bridging fiat and crypto, like Kraken and Ripple, could see their onboarding and offboarding speeds for regular users skyrocket once they connect.

**Going downstream to DeFi.** Cheap, smooth liquidity will flow first to protocols deeply integrated with compliant stablecoins—money markets like Aave and Compound, cross-chain settlement platforms, and various on-chain DEXs. Reduced trading friction means higher yields. Projects working on RWAs (Real World Assets) are likely to be thrilled too.

Of course, this “streamlined account” does have restrictions: no interest, no overdrafts. But that’s not the point. What matters is that, for the first time, the iron wall of traditional finance is being officially cracked open. With rate cut expectations building and payment channels expanding, which sector do you think the next huge wave will hit first?