LAS VEGAS–NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman offered his insights on a number of technology-related issues, including stablecoins and an “epic pain” during a meeting with credit unions here.
Speaking to Mitchell Stankovic’s Underground meeting in Las Vegas, held in conjunction with the Money 20/20 conference, Hauptman said he believes it’s important for credit unions to innovate, but they don’t need NCUA to tell them that “life changes,” noting that credit union leaders can see that the way people banked 30 years ago is “night and day” different from how people bank today—and how they will bank 30 years from now.
Hauptman said one positive of AI is that government has a better understanding of a technology when it uses that technology itself.
In the case of NCUA, it’s using what he called a “very rudimentary” learning model to review call reports.
Some ‘Dislocation,’ But…
Hauptman, who has been a proponent of technology and fintech since joining the NCUA board, said there will be some “economic dislocation” because of AI, but ultimately Americans must do what they do best, which is “innovate and compete.”
There just isn’t much that can be done about the negatives that come with a technology such as AI, he said.
The Clock Is Ticking
The agency is also working to meet a deadline to get rules in place to implement the recently passed GENIUS Act, which, among other things, creates a model for stablecoins. At the time he spoke, Hauptman said NCUA had 266 days left to complete the implementation, although he acknowledged Treasury and the OCC will do “most of the heavy lifting.”
For the record, the deadline for completion is July 18, 2026, with the rules going into effect in 2027.
“Stablecoins are a thing where most people get it, and the selling point in Congress is this country has $40 trillion and, boy, do we need people to buy U.S. debt,” Hauptman said. “If you think mortgage rates are high now, wait until the U.S. loses reserve currency status. We don’t want that to happen.”
As the CU Daily has reported, several credit unions have already announced plans for their own stablecoins.
Addressing an ‘Epic Pain’
The NCUA chairman said he believes credit unions will use stablecoins for remittances and payments for a good reason: those areas can be an “epic pain.”
There would be another potential epic pain if stablecoins don’t do their one job, according to Hauptman: “be stable.”
Stablecoins are issued with a 1:1 ratio to the U.S. dollar.
He noted that should any stablecoin drop in value to less than $1, it would set off a lack of trust. Given the meeting was taking place in Las Vegas, Hauptman used as an example a $1 poker chip that suddenly is worth less.
“Everyone would run to the cashier,” Hauptman said. “That cannot happen. That’s on regulations.”
