Crypto Startup Metal Pay Files for National Bank Charter

Protego joins Anchorage as the first string of digital asset firms to get national trust bank licensing. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has granted another crypto firm a national charter.Per an announcement shared with Cointelegraph today, Washington-based institutional crypto custodian Protego is the second crypto-native firm to get national licensing from the OCC. The new charter is conditional, and Protego is authorized as a national trust bank rather than a traditional bank, meaning that it will not handle deposits. Interestingly, Protego is a relatively new firm and is....

Crypto startup Avanti Financial Group has been granted a license to offer banking services by the Wyoming State Banking Board. The license, or bank charter, means Avanti can now operate as a conventional bank – but one with a twist, capable of holding both crypto and dollars. It plans to launch in 2021. According to a statement published Oct. 28, the firm will also now be able to take custody of crypto assets like bitcoin while its plan for the creation of Avit, a tokenized US dollar, has been given the go ahead. The company’s application for a bank charter was accepted in....

If its application is approved, Anchorage would be the first crypto company to get a national bank charter.

With Acting Comptroller Brooks on his way out the door, the OCC has given its first digital bank charter. Custody pioneer Anchorage is the first crypto firm to see a charter from the U.S. national bank regulator.Per a Wednesday announcement from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Anchorage will have conditional authorization to operate as a trust institution nationally.Per the announcement, Anchorage's continued charter will hinge upon unique requirements:"As an enforceable condition of approval, the company entered into an operating agreement which sets forth, among other....

Over the past few years, New York state has proven to take aggressive stances to financial technology. The state of New York has a somewhat unusual reputation when it comes to financial regulation. The state’s regulator is not too keen on the OCC’s bank charter pan for fintech firms. Overseeing the financial technology sector is a coveted price, and a national bank charter may not be the best idea. It is unusual to see NY state go after the OCC this way, although it remains unclear how things will play out. Not too long ago, the OCC proposed their plans for a national bank charter in the....