U.S. Bank Forms Organization to Pursue Opportunities in Digital Assets

U.S. Bank has established an organization that will focus on emerging digital products and services like stablecoin issuance, cryptocurrency custody, asset tokenization and digital money movement.

The new Digital Assets and Money Movement organization will develop and grow revenue from these products and services, establish and execute the bank’s digital asset strategy, and help accelerate progress across U.S. Bank, the bank said in a Wednesday (Oct. 15) press release.

“Digital assets are rapidly evolving, and U.S. Bank is well-positioned as they grow and become more common across financial services,” Dominic Venturo, chief digital officer at U.S. Bank, said in the release. “Clients increasingly want to understand how digital assets can help them safely move money, store deposits and use tokenized assets, among other potential use cases.”

The Digital Assets and Money Movement organization will be led by Jamie Walker, who leads Merchant Payment Services at U.S. Bank and as CEO of its global merchant payment acquiring business, Elavon. Walker has served in those roles for eight years and has been with U.S. Bank for more than 20 years. In his new role, he will report to Venturo.

“We’ve been at the forefront of payments and money movement,” Walker said in the release. “Our clients benefit from working with a trusted partner like U.S. Bank that is developing the next generation of digital capabilities.”

PYMNTS reported in May that the mainstreaming of digital assets is one of the most striking transformations in a banking landscape that has been defined by technological upheaval, regulatory flux and an uncertain economic outlook.

In June, the Federal Reserve Board paved the way for banks to enter crypto when it dropped the “reputational risk” rule.

On Wednesday, when announcing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s conditional approval of Erebor Bank, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould said the move proved that the OCC under his leadership “does not impose blanket barriers to banks that want to engage in digital asset activities.”

U.S. Bank announced Oct. 8 that it will serve as the custodian for reserves backing Anchorage Digital Bank’s payment stablecoins.

Anchorage Digital Bank is a crypto-native bank holding a federal charter, and U.S. Bank is one of the nation’s largest global custodians, the banks said in a press release.

The post U.S. Bank Forms Organization to Pursue Opportunities in Digital Assets appeared first on PYMNTS.com.