Almost two months ago the OCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding receiverships for uninsured national banks. That doesn’t sound like something related to cryptocurrency but, as the comment we filed today explains, digital currency exchanges may be able to become nationally chartered institutions via a limited purpose charter from the OCC. That would mean that they would not need to get a money transmission or bitlicense in every state where they have customers. This would be a huge reduction in compliance complexity and uncertainty that may make the U.S. more comeptitive globally as a home for digital currency businesses and, by extension, technologists. In our comment we explain why digital currency exchanges may be eligable for a limited purpose charter:
Existing rules require that any entity seeking such a charter will need to perform “at least one of the three core banking functions, namely receiving deposits, paying checks, or lending money.” Digital currency exchanges do not engage in lending money and do not generally receive deposits as that activity is traditionally characterized. These companies may, however, pay checks… Though no longer accomplished with paper checks, the result is the same: a customer delivers a payment instrument to the institution, and the institution grants that person the value of the instrument in a digital form and holds it for her benefit. The digital currency exchange is paying checks in the same manner that a traditional state or nationally chartered trust can accept payment instruments and secure the value of those instruments on behalf of the beneficiary.
We explain, as we’ve done before, why the U.S. is less competitive globally in the digital currency sector:
The U.S. does not currently offer a particularly welcoming home for digital currency exchanges because of two troublesome structural features of U.S. financial regulation that are not present in many foreign jurisdictions: federalism, and a rules-based rather than principles-based approach.
And we describe how these businesses present no substantially different challenges in the recievership context than do existing natioanlly chartered trust companies:
…a digital currency exchange is paying checks in the same manner that a traditional state or nationally chartered trust can accept payment instruments and secure the value of those instruments on behalf of the beneficiary. Like a chartered trust company, virtual currency exchanges do not have FDIC insurance, and do not engage in the lending out or hypothecation of the assets that they hold for the benefit of their customers. These firms present a similar risk profile as chartered trust companies. Accordingly, we believe there are no unique considerations with respect to receivership presented by virtual currency exchanges, and that rules suitable for traditional trust companies should be a good fit for newly chartered virtual currency firms, should the OCC see fit to grant such a charter.
This rulemaking is a very encouraging, tangible step for the OCC to take on the road to chartering more innvovative financial companies including digital currency companies, and we’re happy to participate and hopeful that the outcome will be a more competitive landscape for financial technologies in the US.