Anchorage Digital: What institutional stablecoins require

Regulation is expanding the institutional market

Sergio Mello, Global Head of Stablecoin Solutions at Anchorage Digital, joined Paula Pettit, VP of Strategy and Growth at Range, to explain how regulated institutions are approaching stablecoins. Mello described Anchorage Digital as a global financial infrastructure provider for crypto companies and institutions, with nearly a decade in digital assets and five years operating under an OCC charter. Its foundations span custody, settlement, trading, staking and governance, with stablecoin issuance and services for banks now added to that infrastructure. Those bank services cover dollar settlement, stablecoin maintenance and burns, liquidity on fiat rails and the infrastructure for moving crypto assets.

Anchorage began issuing stablecoins after the GENIUS Act was signed. Mello said the company had prepared for that opening over several years, building toward regulated issuance and coordinating with its regulator on how the activity should operate. He named Ethena as its first issuance client, followed by Tether, Western Union and OSL. He also drew a precise line around the current position: legislation has passed, but OCC and Treasury rulemaking is still in progress. As Mello put it, "There's no such thing as GENIUS compliance yet until this happens towards the end of twenty twenty six."

That distinction matters because regulated institutions need more than a future intention to comply. Mello's point was that Anchorage's issuance activity is already conducted as a federally regulated bank product. He expects completed rulemaking to bring more providers and more institutional demand into the market. He also sees regulatory frameworks developing outside the United States, with countries responding to US legislation as they shape their own rules. In his view, greater alignment can unlock the cross-border component in both directions and support a broader financial infrastructure network.

Range's view starts from the same operational reality: regulatory and reporting requirements have to become controls that can be applied to each transaction. Range then orchestrates the risk and compliance providers an institution already uses, while monitoring, reconciliation and reporting run from the same financial record. That sequence gives finance, compliance and risk management teams a practical stablecoin control and operations platform without separating policy from day-to-day operations. The institution keeps its existing providers while adding the treasury context needed to apply its own rules consistently across stablecoin and fiat activity.

Distribution determines which issuers can build lasting usage

Institutional participation does not mean every institution needs its own token. Mello separated the decision to use stablecoins from the decision to issue one: "Do we see all banks coming in? Yes. Do we see all banks issuing their own stablecoin? Not necessarily." Banks can gain access to stablecoin settlement, custody and liquidity without taking on the economics and operational demands of building a new currency product.

For Mello, the case for issuance starts with an existing route to users. "The need to start a new stablecoin is justified based on distribution capability." He pointed to Tether's reach in the stablecoin market and Western Union's network of 400,000 locations as examples of distribution that already exists. In his account, Tether is bringing a product toward the regulated US banking and financial market, while Western Union can place stablecoins into a network built over generations of global money movement. Large technology companies and global retailers may have similar advantages when a widely used app, customer base or physical network can put a stablecoin into circulation.

That distribution can extend beyond direct customers. A company with a connected network of users, suppliers and vendors may be able to make its stablecoin useful across adjacent parts of its ecosystem. Mello linked that broader use to the economics of money held in circulation. The value comes from recurring use and a network that already has reasons to transact. Range's view is that an issuer therefore needs a credible answer to who will hold the stablecoin, where they can use it and how they can move between stablecoins and fiat.

The technical act of creating a token leaves those questions open. Mello was direct: "Issuing the token is the easy part." Regulated circulation, safe operation and broad distribution are the harder work. He argued that a global distribution network cannot simply be bought after the token exists. Range's view is that the institutional stablecoin market will be shaped by organizations that combine access to users with the financial infrastructure needed to keep issuance, redemption, liquidity and settlement operating as one system.

A shared ledger changes global settlement

Cross-border payments are the most visible stablecoin use case because the limitations of existing settlement systems are clearest across countries and time zones. Mello distinguished the payment instruction from the point at which money movement becomes final. Domestic systems sit within their own banking and central-bank structures, operate on different schedules and were not designed to settle directly with one another. Each additional boundary adds coordination between ledgers and institutions. Mello compared that process with passport checks, where messages and credentials have to be verified again when a traveler crosses into a new system.

Stablecoins change the architecture by placing participants on common infrastructure. "Blockchain networks allow to have a single ledger that is shared by multiple parties regardless of where they are located in the world." In Mello's framing, a global bank, a regulated digital asset institution, a small business in South Africa and a retail user in South Korea can all access the same settlement network. Common access to the ledger creates a different architecture from an international wire. It also allows a wider set of banks to participate without relying on the limited and costly gateways Mello associated with round-the-clock US payment systems.

That access supports institutional uses beyond consumer payments. Mello said larger institutions are becoming comfortable moving high-value flows into stablecoins as regulatory clarity develops. Collateral is one example: "Moving collateral and funding collateral accounts and moving it across border, across time zones, it's something that wasn't possible before." A continuously available rail can reduce the constraints created when collateral accounts and counterparties operate on different local schedules. For foreign banks, Mello tied that availability to liquidity and capital, especially if local regulators grant stablecoins treatment equivalent to cash.

Foreign exchange provides another illustration. Conventional settlement leaves one party exposed when it has delivered one currency but has not yet received the other. Mello described how tokenized currencies can be exchanged atomically, either through Anchorage's settlement infrastructure or a smart contract, so both sides of the exchange complete together. He expects dollar stablecoins to reinforce the dollar's role while other jurisdictions develop digital versions of their own currencies that can interoperate with blockchain dollars. The ratio between major currencies may remain familiar even as a larger share of each currency moves onchain through more efficient settlement systems.

Institutions need custody, governance and treasury controls

Access to a stablecoin rail is only one layer of institutional readiness. Mello grouped the required operating infrastructure into four areas: custody, regulated settlement, governance and treasury management. Together, they determine how assets are held, how value moves, who can authorize a movement and how institutions enter or exit positions across fiat and digital assets. Anchorage historically served asset managers, investors and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and Mello described banks in the United States and abroad as a growing part of that institutional base.

Mello established the first priority clearly: "Custody is the most fundamental component." Governance then turns an institution's risk framework into concrete permissions. Multi-party approvals, transfer limits and operating roles determine whether a movement matches the policy the institution intended to enforce. Range's view is that, for a bank or asset manager, these controls are part of the product itself because stablecoin settlement can remain available beyond the operating hours of domestic payment systems. Range's view is that continuous settlement needs an equally continuous authorization model.

Treasury management connects those controls to liquidity. Mello described the need for predictable ways to move principal between counterparties, wallets and corporate entities, alongside the ability to move between fiat and different digital assets. Anchorage's Atlas settlement layer is designed for transfers between institutions and for transactions that involve several parties. Range's view is that the broader requirement is a stablecoin treasury management process that keeps custody, approvals, liquidity and settlement aligned. The verifiability of a wallet balance and the ability to segregate funds across wallets can then become part of how a fintech designs safety into its product.

Mello's term for the larger shift is direct: "We call it replatforming the dollar." He compared the shift to the arrival of internet APIs ten to fifteen years ago. He said builders can now work backward from the user experience they want and use stablecoins to power it. Range's view is that the same design freedom increases the importance of the control layer. A company operating across stablecoins and fiat needs one real-time ledger across banks, custodians, wallets and exchanges, with pre-execution transaction controls, counterparty context, reconciliation and reporting applied to the resulting activity.

Build the operating model around the stablecoin rail

Stablecoins give institutions a common settlement layer, while regulation, distribution, custody, governance and liquidity determine whether that layer can support durable financial activity. For teams using Range, those requirements sit in one control model across stablecoins and fiat, from policy and provider orchestration through transaction monitoring, reconciliation and reporting. See how Range supports stablecoin operations.

About Anchorage Digital

Anchorage Digital is a global crypto platform for institutions, providing custody, staking, trading, governance and settlement services. Its businesses include Anchorage Digital Bank, a federally chartered digital asset bank in the United States, alongside licensed entities in Singapore and New York. Learn more at anchorage.com.

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