US Comptroller of the Currency: Crypto companies applying for banking licenses should be treated the same as traditional financial institutions

According to TechFlow, on December 9, Cointelegraph reported that Jonathan Gould, the head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), stated that crypto companies seeking federal banking licenses should be treated equally with other financial institutions.

At a blockchain conference on Monday, Gould pointed out that “there is absolutely no reason to treat digital assets differently,” emphasizing that custody and safekeeping services have existed in electronic form for decades. He stated that the banking system has the capability to “evolve from telegraph to blockchain,” and entities participating in digital asset activities should have a pathway to become federally regulated banks.

It is reported that the OCC received 14 new bank applications this year, including some entities engaged in novel or digital asset activities, a number nearly equal to the total number of applications in the past four years. Currently, only two crypto banks have obtained OCC approval: Anchorage Digital, which received a license in 2021, and Erebor, which received a preliminary banking license in October.