American Crypto custodian, Anchorage has gotten conditional approval for a national trust charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), making it the US' first national “digital asset bank”.
Large financial institutions in the US have long had to maneuver stumbling blocks in the way of storing, managing and trading of digital assets – but the obstacles are gradually being cleared. The OCC, a part of the Treasury Department charged with 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 blockchain technology.
"Crypto deserves a bank, and we are immensely proud of being approved as the one to set the standard." -@diogomonica and @nathanmccauley
— Anchorage (@Anchorage) January 13, 2021
Read the full announcement 👇👇https://t.co/0bvQHtCbCj
This approval allows Anchorage develop new financial services, Anchorage co-founders, Diogo Monica and Nathan McCauley say.
Crypto companies have long had issues becoming qualified custodians, due to questions about how digital asset service providers can comply with aspects of the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 – specifically, how brokers can prove that no other entity has access to its own private keys.
However, Anchorage stated in a blog post accompanying the announcement that its new federally chartered bank “unequivocally will meet the definition of Qualified Custodian”, thus becoming authorized to maintain client funds and hold securities in specific, defined ways.