Coinbase Urges US to Remove Barriers for Banks’ Crypto Services

Coinbase Global Inc. is urging US banking regulators to clarify or amend their positions in order to allow banks to offer custody and trading execution services for cryptocurrencies as well as clear the path for them to partner with the likes of Coinbase.

In a letter seen by Bloomberg that was sent to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the largest US crypto exchange urged the OCC to withdraw an interpretive letter that Coinbase said “imposes a de facto application process for novel bank activities” that effectively impedes banks from entering the digital-asset market. It also asked the Fed and the FDIC to confirm that state-chartered banks subject to their jurisdiction may both provide and outsource custody and execution services related to crypto.