Anchorage Digital Bank Becomes First Federally Regulated Digital Asset Bank

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has conditionally approved the Anchorage Digital Bank’s application application for a national trust charter, making it the first crypto bank allowed to opperate in all 50 states.

Today, the OCC has conditionally approved the Anchorage Digital Bank’s application application for a national trust charter.

This makes Anchorage Digital Bank the first national bank for digital assets, which differentiates it from Avanti and Kraken, which both won special purpose depository institution (SPDI) banking charters last year in Wyoming.

The news brings yet another layer of institutional clarity about digital assets, and their place within our future financial system. Further, it provides a path for financial institutions to adopt and participate in digital asset services like lending.

In their announcement post, Anchorage states that the federal charter “will unequivocally meet the definition of Qualified Custodian, giving institutions a straightforward way to meet their obligations under federal law.”

Anchorage, which was already “Blurring The Lines Between Bitcoin, Crypto And Wall Street” through facilitating institutional participation in security tokens last year, now forms a bridge directly between the heart of the long-standing financial system and the nascent digital asset ecosystem.
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