U.S. Banks Authorized for Crypto Transactions, OCC Clarifies

According to Odaily, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has issued an interpretive letter confirming that national banks can legally engage in risk-free principal transactions involving crypto assets. This includes acting as intermediaries in cryptocurrency trades. Jake, head of Wintermute OTC, commented on social media that the process of banks participating in crypto transactions is fundamentally different from proprietary trading. He explained that banks typically purchase crypto assets from clients and immediately transfer the position to a liquidity provider (LP). Technically, banks only hold ownership of the crypto assets for a very short period to facilitate the transaction, without actually maintaining inventory or bearing the risk of price fluctuations. Economically, this model is considered brokerage business, where banks can facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers but cannot hold positions or engage in proprietary trading.