Anchorage Digital Bank Gets OCC Approval
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has provided conditional approval for a national trust charter to Anchorage Digital Bank National Association, making it the first federally chartered digital asset bank in history. This is a major milestone, not only for the South Dakota-based bank, but also for the crypto industry.
“Having a national bank charter places Anchorage Digital Bank firmly on the same regulatory footing as other national banks in the country,” the bank said in its press release. “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.”
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.”
Cryptocurrencies have been much talked about recently with Bitcoin doubling in value from within a couple of weeks, reaching a high of close to $41K. Ethereum also saw a similar boost, going from $584 to a high of $1,281. Today they’re priced at $37,369 and 1,130 respectively.
