The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has just announced the provisional approval for the Anchorage Trust Company to convert to the first federally chartered digital asset bank. This lays the ground work for the new entity, Anchorage Digital Bank, to offer services that so far have been limited to fiat currencies.
An announcement by Anchorage Digital Bank states:
Having a national bank charter places Anchorage Digital Bank firmly on the same regulatory footing as other national banks in the country. Most immediately, it puts first-of-its-kind, sub-custody services within reach for any traditional financial institution that wishes to give its clients access to digital assets. Since our founding, we’ve been credited numerous times with blurring the lines between crypto and traditional finance. Today, we’re happy to see those lines begin to be erased.
Prior to the conversion Anchorage Trust Company provided digital asset custodial, staking and trading services for institutions. At present, a company wishing to provide money transmitting services in the US needs to get approval state by state, a costly and time consuming endeavor. With a national charter Anchorage Digital Bank will allow companies to avoid the regulatory hurdles. This announcement along with the other recent clarifications by the OCC pave the way for greater digital asset adoption by institutions.