On May 7, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published Interpretive Letter 1184 (the Letter) which confirms that OCC-regulated national banks and federal savings associations may buy and sell custodied crypto assets at their customers' direction and may outsource crypto-asset activities that are otherwise permitted for banks, subject to appropriate risk management practices.1
In the Letter, the OCC notes two prior interpretive letters: Interpretive Letter 1183, which removed a requirement for national banks and federal savings associations to receive supervisory non-objection before engaging in crypto-asset custody activities (and which we wrote about here), and Interpretive Letter 1170, which established that national banks may engage in crypto-asset custody activities, either as a fiduciary or non-fiduciary.2 Interpretive Letter 1170 also stated that banks providing custody services may do so in several different manners consistent with a bank's appetite for risk, including by storing copies of customers' private keys, or by having the customer transfer the crypto-assets directly to the bank.3 Banks may also engage a sub-custodian for custody services.4
Although the Letter is primarily a restatement of prior-issued guidance, it also reflects the more permissive attitude toward crypto-asset activities that the banking agencies have adopted under the Trump administration. Steptoe's Financial Innovation and Regulation practice group has followed this trend closely, including the following actions:
- The Federal Reserve Board withdrew prior guidance requiring banks to offer prior notice or receive permission before engaging in certain digital asset activities;
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) withdrew Financial Institution Letter 16-2022 requiring FDIC-supervised institutions to receive permission before engaging in certain digital asset activities;
- The OCC withdrew Interpretive Letter 1179 requiring OCC-supervised institutions to receive permission before engaging in certain digital asset activities.
Footnotes
1. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Interpretive Letter 1184, Clarification of Bank Authority Regarding Crypto-Asset Custody Services (May 7, 2025) https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2025/nr-occ-2025-42.html.
2. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Interpretive Letter 1183, OCC Letter Addressing Certain Crypto-Asset Activities (Mar. 7, 2025) https://occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2025/nr-occ-2025-16.html; Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Interpretive Letter 1170, Authority of a National Bank to Provide Cryptocurrency Custody Services for Customers (July 22, 2020) https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2020/nr-occ-2020-98.html.
3. Interpretive Letter 1170 at 8 n.37.
4. Id. at 8 n.39.
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