- A banking regulator will allow banks to act as intermediaries for crypto transactions.
- Banks in the US already perform similar functions for customers with assets like securities.
- The OCC announcement is the latest crypto-friendly push by banks since President Donald Trump took power.
US banks will be able to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on behalf of customers, acting as intermediaries for investors in the space, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced on Tuesday.
The OCC said in a statement that such transactions would work in the same way American banks already perform for customers with securities and derivatives.
Known as “riskless principal” trades, banks in the US are able to execute a transaction on behalf of a client by acting as a broker. They will now be able to do the same transactions with digital assets.
“In addition, acting as a riskless principal in crypto-assets for custody customers is a
logical outgrowth of the services that national banks may already provide for custody customers,” the statement from the OCC read.
“National banks may buy and sell financial and non-financial assets held in custody on a customer’s behalf at the direction of the customer and in a manner consistent with the customer agreement and applicable law.”
The OCC’s announcement comes as several banks have asked the regulator to be allowed to carry out such transactions, according to a filing from the industry watchdog.
The regulator said that buying and selling crypto-assets for custody customers as riskless principal at a custody customer’s direction is the economic equivalent to buying and selling crypto-assets as agents for custody customers.
In other words, it is “a logical outgrowth of a recognised banking activity,” the OCC wrote.
The OCC added that the bank merely acts as an intermediary and would not hold digital assets in its inventory, “instead acting in a capacity equivalent to that of a broker acting as agent.”
Crypto industry bigwigs complained during ex-President Joe Biden’s administration that lawmakers forced banks to deny crypto firms access to banking services.
But since President Donald Trump entered the White House in January, regulators have taken a more friendly approach to the crypto space.
A number of top crypto firms—including Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Ripple— have now filed for national trust bank charters.
Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at mdisalvo@dlnews.com.