said<\/a> it had dropped the order because \u201cthe safety and soundness of the bank and its compliance with laws and regulations does not require the continued existence of the order.\u201d<\/p>\nAnchorage co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley said the development was a milestone for both the company and the crypto industry at large.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith our consent order lifted, we\u2019ve proven definitively that crypto and federal oversight are not mutually exclusive,\u201d he said, adding that this outcome sets \u201cthe standard for federally-chartered custody of digital assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why did the OCC crack down on Anchorage Digital?<\/h1>\n
The consent order against Anchorage was issued in April 2022. The OCC cited Anchorage\u2019s \u201cfailure to adopt and implement a compliance program\u201d that met the expectations of the Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering standards.<\/p>\n
At the time, Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu stressed that all nationally chartered banks\u2014whether involved in traditional or novel activities\u2014must uphold the same level of regulatory compliance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen institutions fall short,\u201d Hsu said, \u201cwe will take action and hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Though Anchorage did not admit or deny the OCC\u2019s findings at the time, it acknowledged that it had \u201calready been working to strengthen the areas identified\u201d and committed to \u201creinforcing a new, digital asset standard for internal BSA\/AML controls and procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was a critical test for a firm that had only recently broken new ground by becoming the first crypto-native company to receive a national bank charter from the OCC in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew what we were signing up for,\u201d McCauley said this week, reflecting on the company\u2019s path since securing its charter. \u201cThe seeming impossibility of our federal charter mission lit a fire under us from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n
OCC and other regulators have softened their stance<\/h2>\n
Historically, the OCC has long been cautious around digital assets. But under the Trump administration, and crypto-friendly leadership, the agency has taken a softer stance. The agency\u2019s current leadership, including Acting Comptroller Rodney Hood, has publicly referred to crypto as a \u201ctransformation\u201d rather than a passing trend.<\/p>\n
Hood has already confirmed that federally chartered banks could \u201cengage in certain cryptocurrency activities responsibly,\u201d including buying, selling, and providing third-party custody services, so long as institutions ensure proper oversight and risk management.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has eliminated the requirement for state banks to seek prior approval before engaging in crypto-related activities, and the FDIC has also clarified that banks could participate in the digital asset sector without needing upfront agency consent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even the SEC has loosened its grip and has deleted an earlier mandate that forced banks to list custodied crypto assets as liabilities.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has ended a 2022 consent order against crypto-native custodian and bank Anchorage Digital. Summary US OCC drops 2022 consent order…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8529,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8527\/revisions\/8529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}