Fed guarantees 2-day stablecoin payouts, but $76B remains blocked

The Federal Reserve's stablecoin proposal would put a general two-business-day limit on redemption by issuers it supervises.For a customer holding stablecoins at an exchange, the first step is getting that venue to release or convert the balance. In a July 28 snapshot, researchers located $76 billion of stablecoins at centralized exchanges, where a customer may have to deal with the venue before reaching an issuer.Researchers at the Andersen Institute for Finance and Economics located that amount across 12 reserve-backed dollar stablecoins. They call the exchange figure a lower bound because some exchange wallets cannot be identified.Where the proposed clock startsThe Fed proposal, published in the Federal Register on Sept. 29 after the Board announced it on Sept. 24, would require a Board-supervised payment stablecoin issuer to disclose its redemption procedure.Under proposed section 247.12, its normal period to redeem after a request could not exceed two business days. The issuer would have to explain how a customer can redeem and accept requests for at least one token, subject to screening and onboarding.The Board could extend the period for safety, financial stability or the pu...