The United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has confirmed that banks under their jurisdiction can exchange cryptography on behalf of the clients and outsource some crypto activities to third parties.
Interim Comptroller Rodney Hood said in a letter on May 7 that banks and federal savings associations can buy and sell cryptography that they keep in custody in the direction of customers.
The OCC added in a press release that financial institutions can also outsource permissible cryptographic activities of Bank, including custody and execution services, to third parties in accordance with Applice’s law.
“In addition, these banks can provide other custody services, including record maintenance services, taxes or reports for their customers,” said Hood in a May 7 video published in X.
Banks regulated by the West can buy and sell custody purchase assets and are allowed to outsource permissible crypto-active activities of banks, including custody and execution services. https://t.co/0SCQDGNOS6 pic.twitter.com/j5dekx4wul
– Occ (@usocc) May 7, 2025
“Occan Banks can use a subcustodian to provide the same services subject to appropriate third -party risk management practices, while banks and third parties can perform a range of cryptocurrencies and digital asset activities.
Previously, the West facilitated its position on how banks can interact with Crypto on March 7 by giving green light to Crypto-Easet custody, some stablecoin activities and participation in verifications of independent nodes, such as distributors.
“More than 50 million Americans have some form of cryptocurrency. This digitalization of financial services is not a trend; it is a transformation,” said Hood.
The OCC is an independent agency within the United States Treasury Department that regulates and supervises all national banks and also the federal branches of foreign banks.
THE INDUSTRY SUPPORTS OSC
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, general advisor of the ZK-Rollup Starware developer, said the letters indicate a “change in the Western approach”, which now seems to favor an approach to integrating cryptography into the bank frames.
“More orientation will give more clarity [and] Will allow banks to enter Crypto again [without] The fear of existential regulatory risk, “he said.
He added that the “explicit permit of the West today, which allows banks to subcontract the permissible Bank cryptomiss is a bean for native service suppliers of regulated cryptography.”
The Crypto Exchange Coinbase policy director, Faryar Shirzad, also applauded the measure, saying in a position of May 7 to X, Hood’s commitment to “regulatory clarity, as well as his adhesive to the best monitoring practices and the letter,” is.
The Trump administration has taken a more friendly attitude towards cryptography since it entered power in January.
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In April, the United States Federal Reserve announced that it would withdraw the orientation that was created to dissuade banks to participate in cryptographic and Stablecoin activities.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, also signed a joint resolution of the Congress on April 11, annulling a rule of the Age of the Biden Administration that would have requested decentralized finance protocols to inform the transactions to the internal tax service.
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