SEC Cuts Stablecoin Haircut to 2% for Broker-Dealers
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce clarified that the agency won't object to broker-dealers using a 2% haircut for stablecoins, aligning the treatment with registered money market funds and potentially unlocking trillions in institutional capital.
Key Takeaway
The SEC's 98% capital reduction makes stablecoin custody economically viable for Wall Street brokers.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce clarified late last week that the agency won't object to broker-dealers using a 2% haircut for stablecoins. That's a dramatic drop from the previous 100% treatment brokers were applying.
The math matters. A broker with ₱5.81 billion ($100 million) in USDC inventory would now need just ₱116.12 million ($2 million) as a liquidity buffer, freeing up ₱5.69 billion ($98 million) in capital that was previously locked away.
Peirce said a 100% haircut would be unnecessarily punitive given the underlying reserve assets that back payment stablecoins. She noted the 2% figure aligns with the haircut imposed on registered money market funds, which hold similar instruments as stablecoin issuers.
Exodus CEO JP Richardson said the move will open institutional finance to stablecoins and puts pressure on every major broker-dealer to build stablecoin infrastructure or fall behind.
The stablecoin market currently sits at ₱17.42 trillion ($300 billion) pegged to the US dollar, per DefiLlama, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicting the market will reach $3 trillion by 2030.
This article was written based on reporting from Dlnews.
