DCUC Urges Congress To Guarantee Credit Union Access And Parity In Final CLARITY Act
By CU Today Staff —
WASHINGTON – The Defense Credit Union Council Thursday sent a letter to Chairman Bryan Steil and Ranking Member Stephen F. Lynch of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence.
The letter was submitted ahead of the Subcommittee’s July 17 field hearing in New York, “Building the Future of Finance: How the CLARITY Act Unlocks Innovation,” and requests inclusion in the hearing record.
DCUC urged Congress to ensure that the final Digital Asset Market Clarity Act establishes a safe, workable, and competitively neutral pathway for credit unions to offer lawful digital-asset products and services. DCUC represents more than 200 defense-affiliated credit unions serving over 40 million members worldwide, including active-duty servicemembers, members of the National Guard and Reserve, veterans, Department of Defense civilians, and military families.
Nationwide, federally insured credit unions serve approximately 145.8 million members. DCUC emphasized that those consumers should be able to access responsible digital-asset services through the same trusted, member-owned institutions where they save, borrow, make payments, and receive financial guidance.
“Congress has an opportunity to establish rules that protect consumers while preserving competition, choice, and responsible innovation,” said Anthony Hernandez, DCUC president and CEO. “The future of finance cannot be reserved for the largest banks and technology platforms. Credit union members including servicemembers, veterans, and military families should be able to access lawful digital-asset services through the trusted, member-owned institutions that already understand their financial needs. A financial institution’s charter should never become an artificial barrier to serving its members.”
The letter supports preserving and strengthening credit union provisions of the Senate reported version of H.R. 3633. That provision would expressly permit federal credit unions to use digital assets and distributed-ledger systems to deliver activities, products, and services they are otherwise authorized to provide. It also establishes parallel treatment for federally insured, state-chartered credit unions, subject to applicable state law.
These provisions, DCUC stated, identify a range of permissible activities, including digital-asset custody and safekeeping, staking-related services, digital-asset lending facilitation, loans collateralized by digital assets, payments, distributed-ledger node operation, self-custodial wallet software, brokerage and execution services, and customer-directed secondary-market transactions.
“Permission on paper must become access in practice,” said Jason Stverak, DCUC chief advocacy officer. “The final legislation should explicitly name the NCUA, include credit union service organizations, provide workable custody and accounting rules, calibrate compliance obligations to actual risk, and guarantee equal access to digital-payment and settlement rails. Credit unions are not asking for preferential treatment. We are asking Congress to ensure genuine regulatory parity.”
DCUC’s letter recommends that Congress:
The letter also highlights the practical importance of digital financial services for military and veteran communities. Servicemembers and their families are frequently mobile, deployed, or located far from a physical branch. Secure, well-regulated digital payments and settlement services can improve access while allowing defense credit unions to pair technological innovation with financial education, fraud monitoring, member support, and prudential oversight, DCUC said.
“Financial readiness is inseparable from mission readiness,” Hernandez added. “As financial services evolve, military and veteran families deserve access to modern tools delivered with strong safeguards, clear disclosures, and the personal support credit unions are known for. Congress should ensure that innovation strengthens the cooperative financial model rather than leaving millions of credit union members behind.”
DCUC added that it will continue working with members of Congress, the NCUA, state credit union supervisors, and other federal financial regulators to develop technical language that protects consumers, promotes responsible innovation, and allows every financial charter to compete under clear and equivalent standards.
Originally reported by CU Today.