Community bank innovation: a multipronged approach to stablecoins, AI, and fraud

From the digitization of money with stablecoins to the rise of artificial intelligence across operations, traditional relationship banking is evolving. And ICBA is meeting the moment through a coordinated, multi-pillar strategy of advocacy, education, and innovation.

While advocacy ensures our voice is heard in Washington and education prepares our bankers for what’s ahead, our innovation work delivers the tools to solve real problems, unlock new capabilities, and help community banks remain competitive, efficient, and profitable.

Taking a closer look at three areas garnering banker attention suggests how ICBA’s three-pronged approach works in tandem to support community bank innovation.

Tackling Shifts: Stablecoins, AI, and Fraud

Stablecoins, for instance, represent a seismic shift in digital assets. The GENIUS Act established guardrails, including an ICBA-advocated provision that bans stablecoin issuers from paying interest on yields. Now we’re focused on ensuring future market structure legislation extends those prohibitions to exchanges and affiliated platforms—preserving access to credit in local communities.

Given the complexities and market implications of this unfolding issue, ICBA is also working to educate our members on how stablecoin developments could impact their bank, their customers, and key considerations as they prepare for the future. While legislation governing the rules of the road is still forthcoming, the innovation team is already mapping the opportunity landscape to determine where stablecoin infrastructure might support liquidity management or customer experiences.

Now consider fraud and AI—two issues that intersect more every day. A recent Independent Banker article, “Fighting Fraud with Tech and Training,” highlights how bad actors are evolving and how banks can respond with smarter tools and better training. Similarly, a recent ICBA comment letter to the Trump administration notes that AI offers potential for better community bank operations, though regulatory harmony is needed to promote transparency without adding new burdens. These aren’t just theoretical positions. They feed into ICBA’s ThinkTECH Accelerator pipeline.

ThinkTECH’s Role in Problem Solving

Since the inception of the ThinkTECH Accelerator, 70 companies have taken part in the program with six more in contention to join us for our 10th iteration kicking off in January.

Our Innovations and Solutions Subcommittee, comprised of 30 ICBA member bank executives, is integral to our selection process. In addition to informing our areas of focus they dedicate 50 to 60 hours assessing each cohort for overall team strength, sustainability, product maturity, and market viability. So, it’s not surprising that AI permeated many of the sourced solutions from our most recent cohort, helping tackle operational bottlenecks, reduce costs, or supplement customer support.

One of the companies developed an AI agent to monitor a bank’s email inbox for customer-submitted financial statements. When a new document arrives, the AI downloads it, extracts key financial data, runs calculations, and passes the summary to the next stage in underwriting. The bank’s team gets clean decisioning data in minutes versus hours. That’s not just smart tech—it’s a force multiplier.

Fraud is another area of perpetual concern for our members and is one of our most active subgroups in ICBA Community with more than 1,200 members. It’s also a key area of focus of our innovation efforts. Several Accelerator alumni, including Beauceron Security (which we use at ICBA), help mitigate this pervasive threat.

Launchpad for Innovation

Our innovation strategy doesn’t end with our accelerators, of course. It’s built into a broader ecosystem of programs that help bankers lead—not just keep up. We offer 12 to 14 innovation programs a year, and our involvement with BankTech Ventures—which has screened over 5,000 companies and invested in 25 promising solutions to date—keeps us at the forefront of community bank innovation.

As innovation continues to evolve, so has our programming. Following our successful pilots, we’ll debut our ICBA Innovation Academy, developed in concert with our education department, in early 2026. This two-day intensive workshop will be a destination for learning how to operationalize innovation—covering competitive dynamics, third-party risk management, safe implementation practices, and vendor evaluation. We want to penetrate beyond the C-suite to support our banks’ operations, compliance, and technology teams to build confidence and capability in the innovation space.

Our work is strategic and practical. The innovations we scout, vet, and showcase are chosen to help banks solve problems, capture additional revenue, and improve efficiency. Whether it’s reducing fraud losses, automating back-office tasks, or exploring new digital assets, we’re focused on delivering what matters most: results.

At ICBA, we don’t view innovation as a separate lane from advocacy or education; they’re complementary. Advocacy shapes the environment. Education creates understanding. Innovation provides the tools.

So, whether you’re looking to understand stablecoin policy implications, explore AI use cases, or implement vetted solutions to fight fraud, we’re here to help you implement your strategic vision and prepare for the future.