U.S. banking regulators are warming up to cryptocurrency in a way never seen before.
For much of the digital asset sector’s history, crypto companies have accused U.S. regulators of regulatory arbitrage by enforcement, while regulators accused the industry of racing ahead of basic risk controls. Banks, caught in the middle, largely stayed on the sidelines, experimenting quietly while waiting for a clearer signal.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has spent much of 2025 repeatedly flashing that clearer signal to banks, with the latest green light coming Tuesday (Dec. 9) with the news that banks can engage in permissible activities related to riskless principal transactions in crypto assets, aka brokering…
Dec 10 2025
