Fifth Third Bancorp is ready for the massive stablecoin market to become more ubiquitous following the passage of watershed crypto legislation that could be signed into law as soon as today. The stablecoin bill has drawn the ire of many community banking groups that are concerned that the so-called GENIUS Act could disintermediate the banking system, but Fifth Third CEO Tim Spence said that the legislation represents a “greenfield” for the Cincinnati-based bank. Spence said he doesn’t put much stock in the risks of disintermediation in the point-of-sale and domestic payments sectors. “Stablecoins in markets with unstable central banks or not a broad-based banking system? Absolutely an interesting application,” Spence said. “Internationally, stablecoins for cross-border payment or for collateral and different exchanges? Interesting use case. Domestic payments? I think there’s probably more smoke than fire on that one right now.” Fifth Third has a head start in the space. The bank operates its own real-time payment processing product, and it has done business with crypto infrastructure platforms like Stripe and Fireblocks. The bank’s opportunities with stablecoins are twofold, Spence said. Fifth Third can provide banking activities, like reserve accounts and payment rails, to companies that provide crypto infrastructure to users. It can also be a user of stablecoins, through cross-border payments and cross-platform settlements — services it currently outsources to correspondent banks. Fifth Third didn’t provide estimates for how much stablecoin activities could contribute to earnings. But stablecoins can streamline payments processes, making cross-border activities more efficient, said Chief Financial Officer Bryan Preston said.