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The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted conditional approval to crypto custodian Anchorage to launch the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n In a statement<\/a> on Jan. 13, 2021, the OCC said the company received the national trust banking charter, which allows it to create Anchorage Digital Bank, following a thorough review of its operations.<\/p>\n With the approval, Anchorage will now be expected to comply with the capital and liquidity requirements of the OCC and certain risk management procedures. The firm signed an agreement with the banking regulator to this effect.<\/p>\n \u201cBy bringing this applicant into the federal banking system, the bank and industry will benefit from the OCC\u2019s extensive supervisory experience and expertise,\u201d said the regulator, a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, the Anchorage approval demonstrates that the national bank charters were provided under the National Bank Act are broad and flexible enough to accommodate evolving approaches to financial services in the 21st century,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Founded in 2017 by Nathan McCauley and Diogo M\u00f3nica, Anchorage provides crypto custody and trading services to institutional investors. The firm reportedly manages around $100 billion in transactions per year.<\/p>\n Anchorage filed for a national banking charter last year, hoping, among other things, to make it easier for conventional banks to offer crypto services via what it calls sub-custody with the company.<\/p>\n