WASHINGTON–The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved Anchorage Trust Co., a cryptocurrency custody provider, for a national trust bank charter for Anchorage Digital Bank NA. The bank start-up, based in South Dakota, said it is the first-ever federally chartered digital asset bank.
In a statement, the OCC said it granted a national trust bank charter to Anchorage after thorough review of the company and its current operations. As an enforceable condition of approval, the company entered into an operating agreement which sets forth, among other things, capital and liquidity requirements and the OCC’s risk management expectations, the OCC said.
“In granting this charter, the OCC applied the same rigorous review and standards applied to all charter applications,” the OCC said. “By bringing this applicant into the federal banking system, the bank and industry will benefit from the OCC’s extensive supervisory experience and expertise. At the same time, the Anchorage approval demonstrates that the national bank charters provided under the National Bank Act are broad and flexible enough to accommodate evolving approaches to financial services in the 21st century.”