The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OOC) of the United States has taken a step towards global adoption of stablecoins and bank currencies.
In an explanatory letter released this week, OCC officials explained that as long as the digital asset is compliant with law and good banking practice, “a national bank or federal savings association can verify, store and record payment transactions by acting as a node on INVN, an independent network. checking nodes. Likewise, the bank may use INVN and the corresponding stablecoins to carry out other permitted payment transactions. ”
Note that the last time large-scale news about the interaction of the cryptocurrency sectors and banks sounded in September 2020. Then it became known that the popular Kraken exchange received a license to create its own bank in the United States. As a result, the platform will allow its clients to store digital assets, interact with payment systems, and easily exchange regular currency for cryptocurrencies.
According to experts, this innovation will not only allow Kraken to strengthen its position in the market, but also improve the reputation of cryptocurrencies in the eyes of society. Read more about the situation in a separate article.
Cryptocurrencies and banks
Brian Brooks, acting currency controller and former chief legal officer at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, indicated in a press release that the move is aimed at integrating with the cryptocurrency industry and keeping pace with the times. Here is his line, in which he shares his reaction to what is happening. The statement is quoted by Decrypt.
While other governments have built real-time payment systems, the United States relies on our innovation sector to deliver real-time payment technologies.
That is, in this case, the blockchain is presented as an innovative tool that will help the banking industry and the niche of payments.
According to the text of the publication, as financial intermediaries, banks face competition to move funds faster. In the opinion of OCC, INVNs, like blockchains and other technologies of distributed network nodes, are a way to efficiently and quickly move currency. Moreover, banks can issue stablecoins along with debit cards or checks and exchange them for fiat, that is, regular currencies.
Jeremy Aller, co-founder and CEO of Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, sees the post as positive for the cryptocurrency space. According to him, «This is a huge win for cryptocurrency and stablecoins.» Here’s a quote from Twitter.
We are on track for all major economic activity to take place on the blockchain. It is great to see such forward-looking support from the largest regulator of national banks in the United States.
While the OCC has taken a solid pro-cryptocurrency stance on financial innovation, as noted in the letter multiple times, the bureau’s latest message comes amid regulatory uncertainty around the cryptocurrency industry.
Recall that in mid-December, the FinCEN regulator proposed to introduce rules requiring financial services companies, including banks and crypto exchanges, to register and report transactions with cryptocurrency to private wallets if transfers reach a certain threshold in dollar terms.
Also, do not forget about the scandal that broke out between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple. The latter is accused of issuing unregistered securities under the guise of XRP tokens.
Note that the impact of this event on the cryptocurrency was enormous. First of all, its rate fell: the indicator decreased by 63 percent in comparison with the previous month. In addition, many exchanges got rid of the asset and prohibited their users from interacting with it. As a result, the number of large XRP holders who have at least a million coins at their disposal has now dropped significantly. Obviously, they decided to take the risk and get rid of their XRP savings.
Here is a graph from CoinMetrics analysts that illustrates the situation.
We believe this solution clearly shows how mature the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry has become over the past few years. Apparently, a future awaits us in which banks will use decentralized networks and stablecoins on a par with ordinary users, that is, no one will have doubts about the prospects of these products. In addition, this once again reminds us of how young the niche is – nevertheless, new options for its use appear almost every day.
