Federal Reserve Axes Crypto Scrutiny Program for Banks—Bullish Signal for Digital Assets?
The Fed just pulled the plug on its controversial bank crypto-monitoring scheme—and the market's already pricing in the implications.
Regulatory shackles off?
No more mandatory extra scrutiny when banks handle crypto transactions. The move suggests regulators might finally be acknowledging what traders knew years ago—you can't stop decentralized finance with paperwork.
Wall Street's hypocrisy watch
Funny how traditional finance spent years warning about crypto's risks... until they realized they were missing the profit train. Now the Fed's program gets scrapped right as BlackRock's BTC ETF hits record inflows. Coincidence? Please.
One less hurdle for institutional adoption—but don't expect bankers to thank Satoshi when their quarterly bonuses spike.
Banks and the crypto market
The U.S. banking regulator’s announcement on Friday adds to similar moves in the past few months, including the Fed’s decision to remove several guardrails on banks’ crypto-related activities in April.
In this case, the Federal Reserve withdrew supervisory documents that pushed banks to seek advance approval before engaging in cryptocurrency and stablecoin activities.
As well as the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have pulled guidelines that meant banks had to take extra scrutiny when looking at crypto-related activities.
The OCC withdrew its hands-off crypto stance in May, with its announcement at the time stating that banks were now allowed to buy and sell custody-held crypto assets on behalf of their customers. Banks can also offer crypto custody services.
