39 US bankers' groups form BankChain Alliance for stablecoins

A coalition of 39 state bankers' associations formed BankChain Alliance on Tuesday to build an industry-owned blockchain network for stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and automated settlement.

BankChain Alliance describes the project as industry-owned, industry-designed, and industry-governed. According to the announcement, the network will let participating financial institutions offer new digital banking services while preserving the regulatory compliance, security, and customer trust associated with traditional banks. The group has not disclosed a specific technology stack or which blockchain platforms it evaluated before this announcement.

“BankChain Alliance is developing a secure, regulated, industry-built and industry-owned network that allows institutions of all sizes to provide modern capabilities so they can continue serving customers safely and efficiently in rural, urban and regional communities across the country.”

— Kathy Kraninger, Interim Chair, BankChain Alliance

Kathy Kraninger, who also runs the Florida Bankers Association, is leading the effort as interim chair.

The alliance is targeting a 2027 launch and has not named a technology partner yet. Together, the 39 member associations represent 3,283 banks holding $21.8 trillion in assets. The group says the network will interoperate with other systems and has invited ownership from banks nationwide.

Banks have watched stablecoin issuance concentrate around a handful of crypto-native companies even as new federal rules under the GENIUS Act opened the door for regulated banks to issue their own. A shared, bank-owned settlement network gives smaller state-chartered institutions a way to offer stablecoin and tokenized-deposit products without each building blockchain infrastructure alone or ceding the market entirely to bigger players.

The timing is not a coincidence. The same associations spent July pressing senators to tighten stablecoin yield rules in the CLARITY Act, the digital asset market structure bill now pending in the Senate, part of a broader banking-industry push that our earlier coverage tracked when the American Bankers Association pushed Congress to fix rather than kill the bill's stablecoin provisions.

Section 404 of the bill bars covered parties from paying returns on payment stablecoins solely for holding them, though it preserves activity-based rewards. That distinction drew pushback: in a July 13 letter, 78 banking groups raised concerns about what they called ambiguities in the bill, recommending several revisions, including deleting subsection (3)(B) entirely. "We remain concerned that ambiguities within the bill could encourage stablecoin arrangements to effectively function as substitutes for deposits," the letter read. The American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America signed alongside the state associations.

• Formed: BankChain Alliance, a coalition of 39 state bankers' associations
• Purpose: industry-owned blockchain network for stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and automated settlement
• Scale: member associations represent 3,283 banks holding $21.8 trillion in assets
• Timeline: targeting a 2027 launch, no technology partner named yet
• Related fight: same coalition pressed the Senate in July to tighten CLARITY Act stablecoin yield rules

Senators return to the CLARITY Act in September, with a scheduled cloture vote that will test whether the yield language survives. BankChain Alliance gives the same coalition a second lever to pull: if the rules around bank-issued stablecoins end up tighter than crypto-native issuers face, the banks plan to have their own network ready to compete on.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.