Key Takeaways
- Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC clarified that banks should handle dangers when providing bitcoin custody companies.
- The joint assertion doesn’t create new guidelines however reinforces current threat administration expectations for digital asset safekeeping.
- Management modifications at key businesses sign a extra bitcoin-friendly U.S. regulatory setting.
U.S. federal banking businesses have issued new steering clarifying how current laws apply to banks that maintain bitcoin on behalf of shoppers.
The joint assertion, launched Monday by the Federal Reserve Board, Workplace of the Comptroller of the Forex (OCC), and Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Company (FDIC), is geared toward addressing business uncertainty round custody of digital property.
Assertion
The assertion emphasised that banks should think about dangers related to bitcoin custody as they’d with any new services or products.
Key issues highlighted included cybersecurity and the safe administration of cryptographic keys and different delicate info.
The businesses defined:
“A banking group that’s considering offering safekeeping for crypto-assets ought to think about the evolving nature of the crypto-asset market, together with the know-how underlying the crypto-assets, and implement a threat governance framework that appropriately adapts to related dangers.”
The assertion careworn that these clarifications don’t set up new supervisory expectations, however reasonably reinforce the necessity for strong threat administration frameworks. This comes amid a collection of regulatory updates since President Donald Trump took workplace, with businesses just like the OCC in Might stating that banks should purchase and promote digital property for purchasers, and the FDIC not too long ago permitting monetary establishments to have interaction in digital asset actions with out advance notification.
In an additional shift, the U.S. Senate final week confirmed former blockchain govt Jonathan Gould as head of the OCC, signaling a extra digital asset-friendly regulatory setting.
For these within the technical particulars of bitcoin custody, the bitcoin whitepaper stays a foundational useful resource.