A key US bank regulator has declared that financial institutions may act as intermediaries for transactions involving cryptocurrencies. Tuesday’s announcement advances the administration’s agenda of fostering closer ties between conventional banking and the crypto industry.
Specifically, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released guidance authorizing banks to perform “riskless principal” transactions in crypto. Under this model, a bank executes a matched trade, buying from one customer and selling to another, thereby acting as a broker.
The OCC emphasized that banks do not retain an ongoing inventory of crypto assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum through this activity. This policy shift aligns with a friendly administrative stance toward crypto, characterized by rewriting rules and dismantling previous guardrails.
Opponents warn that eroding the boundaries between tightly-regulated banks and the volatile crypto world introduces new systemic dangers. This latest move builds upon prior deregulation, including the OCC’s decision in March to rescind a requirement for banks to obtain pre-approval for crypto ventures.
