The U.S. banking regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), has allowed banks to hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP.
As a result, banks can keep these cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets and use them to pay blockchain fees. The decision was announced in Interpretive Letter 1186 this month and applies to banks across the United States. This move is meant to help banks handle crypto operations safely and efficiently.
According to the OCC, banks can now directly use these crypto assets for transactions or platform testing. For example, this includes paying network fees on Ethereum and Solana. Banks can also use crypto on tokenized platforms that require native tokens as fees.
The OCC said, “A national bank may pay network fees on blockchain networks to facilitate otherwise permissible activities.”
Before this guidance, most banks could only deal with crypto indirectly. They relied on third parties to manage digital assets. Consequently, this limited banks from fully using crypto for daily operations. The new rules allow banks to hold and use crypto directly, while keeping rules, security, and proper controls in place
The guidance also allows banks to hold crypto for testing purposes. This means they can test platforms developed in-house or bought from third parties. The OCC emphasized that banks must handle crypto in a safe and sound manner.
The agency said, “A national bank may hold amounts of crypto-assets as principal necessary for testing otherwise permissible crypto-asset-related platforms.”
Experts say the move is one of the biggest approvals for crypto in the U.S. traditional finance sector. Therefore, it opens doors for faster settlements and tokenized services. It also gives banks more clarity about how to work with cryptocurrencies.
That said, the OCC has slowly expanded crypto acceptance over recent years. For instance, it previously allowed banks to work with stablecoins and partner with crypto platforms. Interpretive Letter 1186 is the latest step in providing rules that let banks operate with crypto safely.
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