OCC Says Banks Can Engage in Riskless Principal Transactions in Crypto Assets

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published an interpretive letter Tuesday (Dec. 9) saying it confirmed that banks can engage in permissible activities related to riskless principal transactions in crypto assets.

The regulator’s Interpretive Letter 1188 confirmed that national banks can engage in these transactions as part of the business of banking, the OCC said in a Tuesday press release.

“Such transactions involve a bank acting as a principal in a crypto-asset transaction with one customer while simultaneously entering into an offsetting transaction with another customer,” the regulator said in the release. “The bank serves as an intermediary and does not hold the crypto-assets in inventory, instead acting in a capacity equivalent to that of a broker acting as an agent.”

“As with any activity, a national bank must conduct these activities in a safe and sound manner and in compliance with applicable law,” the OCC said in the release.

PYMNTS reported in July that the confirmation of Jonathan Gould as comptroller of the currency signaled a relaxation of digital asset regulations, particularly for banks, and an easier path for some nonbanks and digital upstarts to obtain banking charters.

Gould has previously been chief legal officer at blockchain firm Bitfury and, before that, served as senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel at the OCC during the first Trump administration.

In addition, the groundwork had been laid by Rodney Hood, who served as acting comptroller before the confirmation of Gould.

When Hood announced his departure in July, he highlighted the expanding digital assets efforts during his tenure.

These efforts included Interpretive Letter 1183, which confirmed that crypto-asset custody, certain stablecoin activities, “and participation in independent node verification networks such as distributed ledger are permissible for national banks and federal savings associations.”

They also included Interpretive Letter 1184, which allowed national banks and federal savings associations to buy and sell assets held in custody at the customer’s direction “and are permitted to outsource to third parties bank-permissible crypto-asset activities, including custody and execution services.”

In November, with Gould as comptroller of the currency, the OCC published Interpretive Letter 1186, which confirmed that for specified activities, national banks can pay crypto-asset network fees and hold crypto assets as principal.