Introducing: Anchorage Digital Bank, the First Federally Chartered Digital Asset Bank

Anchorage Digital is pleased to announce that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has provided conditional approval to our application for a national trust charter, which makes Anchorage Digital Bank National Association, the first federally chartered digital asset bank in history. This is a major milestone, not only for us as an organization, but also for the crypto industry and the wider financial world. Crypto deserves a bank, and we are immensely proud of being approved as the one to set the standard.

Having a national bank charter places Anchorage Digital Bank firmly on the same regulatory footing as other national banks in the country. Most immediately, it puts first-of-its-kind, sub-custody services within reach for any traditional financial institution that wishes to give its clients access to digital assets. Since our founding, we’ve been credited numerous times with blurring the lines between crypto and traditional finance. Today, we’re happy to see those lines begin to be erased.

Before now, there have existed fintech companies with the technical sophistication to securely handle digital assets under a piecemeal, state-by-state regulatory structure, and there have existed federally chartered banks with a robust regulatory framework that lack the true technological savvy it takes to operate in the blockchain space at its breakneck pace of innovation. Anchorage Digital Bank is the first entity to have both the tech and the regulatory clarity that serious institutional participation in crypto demands. And as a federally chartered bank with fiduciary powers, Anchorage Digital Bank will unequivocally meet the definition of Qualified Custodian, giving institutions a straightforward way to meet their obligations under federal law.

We are currently witnessing the rise of institutional crypto adoption. From large asset managers, to corporate treasuries, to endowments and family offices, institutional interest in digital assets has never been higher. As the space continues to mature and its use cases proliferate, we expect to see increasing demand for a wide range of services — services that exceed the expectations of traditional finance. A federal charter significantly increases our ability to develop and offer the kinds of innovative financial products and services with the safety and soundness that institutional participants require.

We could not have reached such an historic milestone without the tireless efforts of our team, and the many, many others who have spent countless hours of their lives and huge amounts of resources to blaze the trail ahead of and alongside us. And we are immensely grateful to the OCC, whose passion for protecting consumers and commitment to keeping the American banking system at the forefront of financial innovation is clearly evident in their work. Today marks a truly meaningful step forward on the journey toward a more fair, equitable, and secure financial system. May it be one of many.

To learn more about Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered digital asset bank, please get in touch.