The United States banking system is being re-functioned in 2026, and the change is on the public record. Across 12 months, Congress passed laws and the President signed executive orders that alter what a bank is and what it does. IR-005 The Handover connects the GENIUS Act, Trump Accounts, the Gold Card, and Basel III into one documented transition. For anyone tracking US banking reform, deposit insurance limits, or where a currency windfall should land, the picture is a scheduled handover, not a collapse.

The GENIUS Act and stablecoin deposit insurance

The GENIUS Act was signed into law on 18 July 2025, passing the Senate 68 to 30 and the House 308 to 122. It created the first federal framework for dollar-backed payment stablecoins, with FDIC rulemaking due to finalize 18 July 2026. FDIC Chairman Travis Hill confirmed on 11 March 2026 that stablecoin holders get no deposit insurance. When payroll routes through stablecoin rails, the token is not a deposit, and the bank no longer intermediates.

Trump Accounts, the Gold Card, and custodian banking

On 6 April 2026 the Treasury named Bank of New York Mellon, a custodian rather than a deposit bank, as financial agent for Trump Accounts. Every American child born from 2025 to 2028 is eligible for a $1,000 Treasury seed, with 5 million enrolled and the program live 4 July 2026. Executive Order 14351 created the $1 million Gold Card and a $5 million Platinum Card, routing foreign wealth into Treasury instead of the private bank.

Basel III endgame and the wealth management pivot

On 19 March 2026 the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC proposed the next phase of Basel III, with the comment period closing 18 June 2026. The proposal lowers capital charges on wealth management and custody while raising them on traditional lending. Lower capital means higher return on equity, so boards reallocate toward custody. A parallel citizenship-verification order, estimated at 33 to 73 million compliance hours and $2.6 to $5.6 billion, pushes marginal customers out.

What it means for deposits and windfalls

Above the insured cap, a bank deposit is a creditor position, not ownership. The report maps FDIC, eurozone, UK, Canadian, and Australian guarantee limits, plus gold reclassified as a Tier 1 reserve asset since 2019 and central banks buying over 1,000 tonnes a year. The pre-event moves cost nothing: trust structures, custodian accounts, and adviser relationships built before the money arrives.

IR-005 lays out every legislative source, the deposit-guarantee framework across five currencies, and the positioning steps for a 2026 windfall. Read the full US banking transition analysis.