- U.S. federal banking regulators released official expectations for banks dealing with crypto-asset safekeeping.
- The new statement highlights existing risks but does not create new supervisory requirements.
- Banking organizations must ensure staff have proper knowledge and risk management skills for crypto custody.
- Bank involvement in crypto custody grew to nearly $16 billion by mid-2024 after prior restrictions ended.
- Jonathan Gould was recently confirmed as head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
On July 14, U.S. federal banking regulators issued a statement to outline their expectations regarding how banks should manage the safekeeping of crypto-assets. The guidance comes from the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The agencies emphasized that this statement does not introduce new regulatory requirements, but instead summarizes key risks that banks need to consider.
The regulators’ guidance arrives amidst ongoing changes to crypto policy under President Trump’s second administration. Notably, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s SAB 121, which once kept banks from offering crypto custody, was rescinded four days after Trump’s 2025 inauguration. Recent data from the Basel Committee shows that, even before the rollback, by mid-2024 the value of crypto assets held in bank custody had grown to almost $16 billion, despite earlier restrictions.
The statement from the banking agencies underscores the need for bank leaders and employees to have the correct skills for managing crypto-asset custody. In the agencies’ words: “Given the complexities of crypto-asset safekeeping, a banking organization’s board, officers, and employees should have the requisite knowledge and understanding of crypto-asset safekeeping services to establish adequate operational capacity and appropriate controls to conduct the activity in a safe and sound manner and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.”
The guidance also addresses the risks involved in handling cryptographic keys, which are secure codes needed to access digital assets. It highlights legal and compliance risks, especially for anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act rules. The statement warns that banks usually rely on third-party technology for crypto custody, increasing external risks, even when they do not use a sub-custodian.
The guidance follows related letters in recent months that rolled back prior banking restrictions around digital assets. Under the prior administration, no official guidance for crypto-asset safekeeping was needed because SEC rules had made bank participation difficult or impossible.
In other regulatory developments, last week the Senate confirmed Jonathan Gould as head of the OCC. Gould previously worked for a digital asset company and joins other regulators managing policy for banks in the evolving crypto space.
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