Published date: December 18, 2025 12:27
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an important interpretation letter on December 17, 2025, allowing national banks to engage in risk-free principal transactions involving crypto assets.
Under this new guidance, banks can purchase digital assets from one party and immediately resell them to another party to fulfill an offset order. Because orders are executed simultaneously, the bank zeros out inventory and minimizes risks that are primarily limited to payment timing.
Alternatives to unregulated exchanges
The purpose of the OCC is to provide consumers and institutions with a regulated alternative to offshore or unregulated virtual currency exchanges. By allowing banks to facilitate these transactions, regulators aim to boost market confidence and reduce the industry’s exposure to “bad actors.”
The letter paves the way for banks such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to become major brokers of cryptocurrencies, but the OCC stressed that these activities must be conducted in a “safe and sound manner,” with strict oversight of credit and settlement risks consistent with existing securities laws.
This regulatory change integrates digital asset trading directly into the core of the U.S. national banking system and marks a definitive end to the “crypto silo” era.
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