rewrite this title 5 Takeaways from Trump’s Executive Order on Fintech and Regulatory Frameworks – Finovate

In last week’s Finovate Weekly newsletter, I shared some thoughts on what fintechs might hope for from President Trump’s summit meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. While the meeting does not appear to have delivered anything of substance from a fintech or financial services perspective, Trump did sign an Executive Order (EO) shortly after returning from Beijing that actually has plenty for fintechs and financial services companies to think about—if not cheer for.

Let’s take a look at five top takeaways from the EO, titled Integrating Financial Technology Innovation into Regulatory Frameworks.

From containment to enablement

The executive order directs Federal financial regulators to review existing policies to “facilitate innovation and greater competition in the provision of financial services.” Even more directly, the order calls upon regulators to “take steps to encourage innovation by, and growth of, fintech firms and federally regulated institutions of all sizes.”

The “fintechs and friends” framing of the executive order is in and of itself telling. After years of trying to strike a balance between the needs of incumbent banks and financial services providers and insurgent fintech innovators, the EO suggests a potential shift from “containment” of fintech innovation to outright enablement.

More access to Fed payment rails

Operationally speaking, some of the biggest news in the EO might be the way it directs the Federal Reserve to review its approach to granting payment accounts and services. This includes potentially expanding access to Fed payment rails for fintechs and nonbanks. Practically speaking, this could incentivize easier access to Fed payment infrastructure, Fedwire, and settlement services typically reserved for bank intermediaries.

The EO criticizes “regulations, guidance, and policies” that it referred to as “relics of a time when financial services where predominantly provided in brick-and-mortar-centric settings.” While this potentially refers to a fairly broad range of existing directives, the tone clearly indicates a willingness to overhaul or at least revisit rules that fail to reflect our increasingly mobile, digital, and even agentic contemporary financial landscape.

Building better bank-fintech partnerships

The EO is also critical of “rules governing financial institution’s third-party risk management” which it claims unfairly favors incumbents “at the expense of innovators.” As such, the order directs regulators to examine supervisory practices, application processes, and guidance that may “unduly impede fintech firms from entering into partnerships with federally regulated institutions.”

This could positively impact opportunities for Banking-as-a-Service companies as well as sponsor bank relationships, charter applications, and more, potentially reducing some of the challenges and complexity brought on by regulatory uncertainty with regard to partnerships between banks and fintechs.

Crypto and stablecoins move toward the mainstream

With the passage of the GENIUS Act, it is clear that the administration is seeking to support, if not encourage, innovation in the digital asset space. This week’s executive order underscores that support, noting that President Trump signed an Executive Order in his first week in office that was designed to “secure” the United States’ position as the global leader in the “digital asset economy,” as well as to establish additional regulatory clarity and guidance for digital assets. Other EOs are also referenced, including the one in March 2025 that established the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and US Digital Asset Stockpile.

Specifically, this week’s executive order directs the Federal government to “update its outdated regulations to allow integration of digital assets and other novel financial technology into traditional financial services and payment systems.” Clearly and increasingly, the Trump administration sees digital assets, blockchain technology, and stablecoins as key components of US financial system infrastructure rather than as niche products, isolated technologies, or speculative instruments.

A win for regulated fintechs?

From the wave of fintechs seeking bank charters to the increased regulatory clarity provided by recent executive orders, fintechs could be on the precipice of a “best of both worlds” scenario: a financial services industry that feels deregulated and more opportunity-rich due to what mighr actually be greater regulation and guidance. While there remains much to be seen in terms of how fintechs and nonbanks take advantage of this changing regulatory environment—from pursuing bank charters to more aggressively pursuing embedded and open finance technologies—it does seem clear that the US is positioning itself to be more competitive in a shifting, global fintech and financial services landscape

Photo by Tomasz Zielonka on Unsplash

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