In Brief:
- US regulators issued a joint statement regarding crypto guidance for banks.
- The team comprise of Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, FDIC, and OCC.
- Regulators to clarify in 2022 what role banks can legally perform in the crypto market.
The US banking regulators released a joint statement offering information about their plans for regulating cryptocurrencies in 2022.
According to their joint statement, the regulators, which include the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency(OCC), the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC), have identified a number of areas that they believe need to be publicly clarified.
The Fed’s Board of Governors, FDIC, and OCC established an agenda for 2022, with concerns such as stablecoin issuance by banks and financial institutions holding crypto assets to be determined.
The three regulators intend to potentially adjust compliance and enforcement standards on existing laws and regulations pertaining to custody services, the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, crypto-collateralized loans, hodling, and the issuance of stablecoins in 2022.
The regulators stated that they have focused on building a coherent crypto vocabulary, identifying critical security and compliance risks, and assessing the applicability of existing regulations and guidance.
The group also plans to discuss with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a global committee of banking supervisors and central banks that guides banks considering holding cryptocurrency.
The regulators’ joint statement is an update on the work of an interagency “policy sprint” that met earlier this year.
According to the regulators, cryptocurrency’s rapid growth presents potential opportunities and risks for traditional banks.
They stated that regulators want to provide coordinated and timely clarity to the institutions under their supervision.
The document stated, “Throughout 2022, the agencies plan to provide greater clarity on whether certain activities related to crypto-assets conducted by banking organizations are legally permissible, and expectations for safety and soundness, consumer protection, and compliance with existing laws and regulations.”
At the end of October, the US banking regulators announced that they are developing guidelines for the banks that deal with cryptocurrency assets now followed by the joint statement released this month.
