The United States Currency Controlling Office (OCC) has granted conditional approval to crypto custodian Anchorage to launch the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the country.
In a statement on January 13, 2021, the OCC said the company received the charter from the national trust bank, which allows it to create the Anchorage Digital Bank, after a thorough review of its operations.
With approval, Anchorage is expected to meet the OCC’s capital and liquidity requirements and certain risk management procedures. The company signed an agreement with the banking regulator for this purpose.
“By bringing this candidate into the federal banking system, the bank and the industry will benefit from the OCC’s extensive experience and expertise in oversight,” said the regulator, a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department.
“At the same time, Anchorage’s approval demonstrates that national bank licenses that were provided under the National Bank Act are broad and flexible enough to accommodate evolving approaches to financial services in the 21st century,” he added.
Founded in 2017 by Nathan McCauley and Diogo Mónica, Anchorage offers cryptography custody and negotiation services to institutional investors. The company manages about $ 100 billion in transactions per year.
Anchorage filed for a national bank authorization last year, hoping to, among other things, make it easier for conventional banks to offer cryptographic services through what it calls sub-custody with the company.
In a blog post on Wednesday, McCauley and Mónica detailed:
Having a charter from a national bank places Anchorage Digital Bank firmly on the same regulatory basis as other national banks in the country. Since our founding, we have received credit several times for blurring the boundaries between cryptography and traditional finance. Today, we are happy to see these lines start to be erased.
Anchorage becomes the first cryptocurrency entity to receive a federal license. However, last year, Kraken and Avanti were licensed to operate as digital asset banks by the state of Wyoming. The state charter allows the pair to become national, but there are limits.
The Anchorage banking contract is being hailed as an important development in the growth of the crypto industry in the United States. Under acting controller Brian Brooks, the OCC has shown some progress in building the nascent sector. Last year, the regulator allowed banks to use public stablecoins and blockchains for liquidation. The OCC also gave the green light for US banks to maintain stable currency reserves for issuers.
What do you think of Anchorage’s national banking contract? Let us know in the comments section below.
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