Custodia Bank, the Wyoming-chartered digital asset institution, has petitioned the Supreme Court to review lower court decisions that upheld the Federal Reserve's broad discretion to deny master account applications without judicial review. Custodia argues the Cook and Slaughter rulings create precedent that constrains unbounded Fed authority and that its case now merits high court examination. The petition represents the most direct legal challenge yet to the Fed's gatekeeping role over payment system access.
For Armada's crypto repo desk, the stakes are structural. If SCOTUS grants cert and rules against the Fed, crypto-native custodians and counterparties could gain direct access to Fed settlement infrastructure, altering how collateral moves and where cash legs of crypto repo trades settle. It also bears on Fireblocks and any future custody partners seeking banking relationships. Conversely, a denial leaves the current exclusionary framework intact.