President Donald Trump signed an executive order on May 19 directing federal financial regulators to review rules and supervisory practices that may limit fintech firms' access to regulated financial services.

The most relevant piece for crypto and payments infrastructure is the section addressed to the Federal Reserve. The order asks the Fed to evaluate the legal, regulatory, and policy framework for giving uninsured depository institutions and nonbank financial companies access to Reserve Bank payment accounts and payment services. It explicitly includes firms engaged in digital assets and other novel financial activities.

This is not an immediate grant of Fed master accounts to crypto companies. The order asks the Fed to submit findings, options, and recommendations within 120 days, including whether existing law permits expanded access and what risk-management conditions would apply. If the Fed concludes that direct access is legally available, the order asks it to create transparent application procedures and decide complete applications within 90 days.

The order also asks federal financial regulators to review, within 90 days, regulations and guidance that may unduly impede fintech partnerships with federally regulated institutions or slow applications for charters, deposit insurance, licenses, registrations, and other approvals.

For digital-asset firms, the practical signal is regulatory process rather than guaranteed access. The White House is pushing agencies to examine whether crypto and fintech companies should have clearer routes into core payment infrastructure, while leaving the central legal and safety questions with the Fed and other regulators.