According to a letter released yesterday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), now the US federal banks can provide services for the storage of cryptocurrencies (also known as custodial services).
The document explains that the owners of the cryptocurrency need reliable storage for their assets in institutions such as banks. The decision to allow banks to create crypto storage is a natural development that is derived from their previous concern for the protection of physical assets.
This step testifies to the new attitude of OCC under the leadership of Brian Brooks, who previously worked at Coinbase, to cryptocurrencies.
Speaking about the importance of this decision, Brooks said:
“We must create conditions in which banks will be able to meet the needs of their clients in financial services, from safes to virtual storage. Today, the issue of storage of cryptocurrencies affects tens of millions of Americans”.
Within the approval, provided to the bank, the organizations are obliged to separate the clients’ assets from their own cryptocurrency assets. In addition, the bank’s regulator obliged the banks to adhere to the highest safety standards.
The approval presumably means that financial institutions can store copies of their customers’ private keys or allow people to store virtual assets in safe cold storage.
Prior to this announcement, some state banks had already provided services based on crypto custody. The top giants Coinbase and Bakkt have already created custodial solutions on their cryptocurrency platforms. Such corporations, like Fidelit Investments, develop similar plans.
Reliable storage for cryptocurrencies has always been considered a basic condition for their wider implementation. Some companies even are currently developing technologies that allow efficient trade and bids directly from cold wallets.
