U.S. Bank Regulators Drop Crypto Rulebook—Finally Some Clarity (Or More Red Tape?)
Federal watchdogs just threw banks a lifeline—or maybe an anchor—with long-awaited crypto guidance. The 2025 playbook drops just as institutional adoption hits critical mass.
The good: Clearer custody rules for digital assets, streamlined compliance for stablecoin reserves. Finally, banks won’t treat crypto like a radioactive suitcase.
The catch: New ‘enhanced monitoring’ requirements that’ll make compliance officers weep into their $8 lattes. Because nothing says ‘innovation’ like triple-approval paperwork.
Between the lines: Regulators are playing catch-up after years of ‘strategic ambiguity’—aka kicking the can down the road while banks missed the DeFi train.
One thing’s certain: Wall Street’s crypto desks just got a green light (with 37 pages of fine print). Now watch traditional finance ‘disrupt’ blockchain with the same efficiency they brought to overdraft fees.
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Federal Reserve Board
- Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Federal bank regulatory agencies issued a joint statement in their continued efforts to provide clarity on banks’ engagement in crypto-asset-related activities. The statement highlights for banks potential risk-management considerations related to holding crypto-assets on their customers’ behalf, or crypto-asset safekeeping.
The joint statement discusses existing risk-management principles that apply to crypto-asset safekeeping and reminds banks that provide or are considering providing safekeeping of such assets that they must do so in a SAFE and sound manner and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
The statement does not create any new supervisory expectations. The agencies continue to explore ways to provide additional clarity with respect to banks’ engagement in crypto-asset-related activities.
Crypto-Asset Safekeeping by Banking Organizations (PDF)
Source: Federal Reserve
