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USDC issuer Circle Internet Financial is one step towards becoming a bank in the US, moving forward with discussions with regulators since August. The issuer of the second-largest stablecoin is currently in the final process of submitting a formal application for it to become a federally chartered crypto bank.
Circle Inching Closer Towards Becoming a Crypto Bank
According to a recent report from Bloomberg, The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which oversees bank charters, had discussions with Circle regarding how the crypto startup will go about with its banking abilities and its interoperability with blockchains. https://twitter.com/crypto/status/1514454918622547975 If approved, Circle would be the fourth federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S. Prior crypto companies to receive at least preliminary approval for a banking charter includes Anchorage Digital, Protego Trust Bank NA, and Paxos Trust Company. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire in an interview at Bitcoin Miami 2022 conference stated that the company is already “making good progress” and is in the process of submitting a final application for it to get approved. Allaire further stated that there hadn’t been any kind of roadblocks or setbacks while working with the OCC despite the regulatory body having heightened supervision requirements in November for banks looking to engage in crypto activities. It remains to be seen whether Circle will indeed become a crypto bank considering the U.S. hasn’t granted a new banking charter to any crypto-focused company in almost a year.