Anchorage is first national crypto bank approved by OCC. Anchorage becomes the first national “digital asset bank” in the United states by securing the condtional approval for a national trust charter from the U.S Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
The regulator explained in a statement released Wednesday that “In granting this charter, the OCC applied the same rigorous review and standards applied to all charter applications. By bringing this applicant into the federal banking system, the bank and industry will benefit from the OCC’s extensive supervisory experience and expertise.”
Anchorage President Diogo Monica said in an interview “We are a national bank. The only difference is our business line, that we’re doing crypto assets versus doing other assets. The benefit of having a federally chartered bank is that it preempts all the state laws. The clarity of being regulated by the oldest regulator for banks in the United States … sends a very clear message.”
“I think what’s necessary is the creation of crypto banks that are able to hold stablecoins that reflect value of a fiat currency, but that doesn’t change the native asset, and you need to have real cryptocurrencies over here where they interact directly with each other, with no need to ever off-ramp,” acting CEO of OCC Brooks said. “Fiat will ultimately be a legacy thing of the past.”
“It means that there’s a crypto-native company that offers crypto services like lending, staking and now it’s allowed to actually be connected directly to the core of the financial system,” Mónica added. “We can go out and do all sorts of businesses, wrapped assets that financial institutions can do today, but backed by crypto assets.”
The OCC, a part of the Treasury Department responsible in keeping banks safe but also competitive, has now issued three interpretative letters that lay the groundwork for banks to custody crypto, participate in blockchain networks and become payment providers using the tech.
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