US banks just unlocked a loophole to profit from your crypto trades without holding the bag

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued Interpretive Letter 1188, explicitly allowing national banks to conduct "riskless principal" transactions for crypto-assets. This means banks can act as a buyer to one customer and a seller to another, profiting from the spread without holding meaningful inventory, effectively minimizing balance sheet risk.

Simultaneously, Comptroller Jonathan Gould signaled that digital assets should not be treated as fundamentally separate from traditional banking activities like custody. This stance runs counter to lobbying efforts by groups like the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), which fears crypto firms using national trust charters to engage in bank-like activities while avoiding full holding-company supervision and deposit insurance requirements.

The OCC's direction is to integrate crypto activities into familiar banking categories like brokerage and custody. For banks, this opens a path for customer-facing crypto brokerage services. For crypto firms, the OCC's continued willingness to grant national trust charters—provided they meet core standards for capital and risk control—offers a path to federal supervision, nationwide reach, and potentially avoiding the full scope of holding-company rules, which could centralize US crypto custody and settlement under OCC-regulated entities.

(Source：CryptoSlate)