U.S. OCC "Virtual-asset firms should be held to the same standards as banks in the chartering process"

A claim has emerged in the United States that virtual-asset (cryptocurrency) firms should be treated the same as banks.

On the 9th (Korean time), Jonathan Gould, Comptroller of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), said at the Blockchain Association policy summit that "custody and safekeeping services have been conducted electronically for decades," and "there is no reason to treat virtual-asset firms applying for a federal bank charter differently from existing financial institutions." He added, "There is no justification for treating digital assets separately," and "banks should not remain stuck in past technologies or business models."

The OCC supervises U.S. national banks and has long regarded virtual-asset firms as potential risks. Currently, only two virtual-asset firms have received OCC charters: Anchorage Digital, which obtained a charter in 2021, and Erebor, which received a preliminary charter this year.

Gould said, "The U.S. banking system has the capacity to evolve from the telegraph era to the blockchain era," and "digital-asset firms should be guaranteed a pathway to be supervised within the federal regulatory framework." He also said, "This year the OCC has received 14 applications to establish new banks."

He also emphasized that the OCC has sufficient supervisory capacity. Gould stressed, "Concerns about the OCC's involvement in virtual-asset firms obtaining bank charters risk rolling back innovations that help improve customer service and support local economies," and "the OCC has already accumulated years of experience supervising trust banks related to virtual assets."