Zelle owner Early Warning Systems exploring stablecoin for retail bank customers

Thu, Sep 11, 2025, 10:45 AM 4 min read

Early Warning Systems, the startup behind the Zelle payments network, plans to explore issuing its own stablecoin for retail bank customers in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Still in its early days, the plan would focus on the infrastructure to create and issue a stablecoin aimed at retail bank customers. A stablecoin is a crypto asset that, unlike bitcoin, isn’t supposed to fluctuate. Instead, it has a price pegged to other assets, most commonly the US dollar.

Read more: How stablecoins work

This undertaking, which would likely start with a small-scale test project, would give customers at some of the country’s biggest US banks a way to use stablecoins in everyday payments.

The Clearing House, a payments company and banking association owned by some 20 large banks, is also considering stablecoin initiatives, but those haven't yet moved beyond discussions, sources added.

Representatives for Early Warning Systems declined to comment.

"Stablecoins are a potential innovation in the digital asset and payments space," a spokesperson for the Clearing House said. The company "always stays informed and evaluates emerging technologies/opportunities," they added.

Stablecoins have gained a lot more of Wall Street's attention this year. While there’s ongoing debate about how quickly adoption among everyday users and financial institutions will ultimately pick up, their longer-term outlook has garnered growing recognition.

Early Warning Systems is a fintech company jointly owned and controlled by a group of major US banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Capital One (COF), and PNC (PNC). EWS operates real-time payments network Zelle while offering financial institutions a range of payments compliance software and services

Launched in 2017 as the banking industry's answer to fintech platforms like Paypal, Venmo, and CashApp, Zelle processed over $1 trillion in payments volume last year and hit a new record last month, when users sent $108 billion across its network, according to the company.

The Wall Street Journal first reported in May that bank executives from Early Warning and the Clearing House held discussions about exploring stablecoins.

In July, President Trump signed the first federal framework for dollar-backed payment stablecoins, known as the Genius Act.

This bill opened the door for banks, fintech firms, and other companies to begin issuing their own regulated versions, though bank regulators have yet to issue concrete guidance for how to do so without potentially violating other existing codes.