Anchorage Digital offers non-U.S. banks a stablecoin stand-in for correspondent banking

Anchorage Digital, the first crypto firm to get a U.S. banking charter, wants international banks to swap out correspondent banking relationships with a new service that offers U.S.-regulated stablecoin rails for non-U.S. institutions.

The bank is launching what it calls "Stablecoin Solutions" to permit easy, cross-border movement of dollar-tied assets, combining "minting and redemption, custody, fiat treasury management, and settlement" into one service, it said in a Thursday statement.

"Stablecoins are becoming core financial infrastructure," said Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, in a statement. "Stablecoin Solutions gives banks a federally regulated way to move dollars globally using blockchain rails, without compromising custody, compliance, or operational control."

Now that the U.S. has a new law governing stablecoin issuers under last year's Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins ($GENIUS) Act, Anchorage Digital — already regulated under a federal charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — is moving to offer the stablecoin services. While it's ready to handle any brand of stablecoin, a field currently dominated by Tether's $USDT and Circle $USDC, the company said institutions can natively mint and redeem tokens "issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, including Tether’s USA₮, Ethena Labs’ USDtb, OSL’s USDGO and upcoming issuances such as Western Union’s USDPT."

Correspondent banking allows foreign banks to tap another institution to handle their cross-border activities, such as wire transfers, currency exchange, taking foreign deposits and otherwise acting as a third-party proxy. But it can be expensive and time-consuming. Anchorage Digital is suggesting it can use stablecoin rails to cut settlement delays and simplify the complexity of the existing system.

The $GENIUS Act that will govern this business isn't yet implemented by the federal agencies involved in regulation and oversight, such as the OCC and other banking watchdogs. Those agencies have begun proposing some of the future regulations.

Some provisions on stablecoin yield are now being reopened in the ongoing Senate negotiation over the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.

Read More: Tether invests $100 million in U.S. crypto bank Anchorage, valued at $4.2 billion