Crypto Firms Chase Bank Charters: When Bitcoin Dresses Up as a Bank

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In a plot twist worthy of a Silicon Valley sitcom, U.S. digital asset firms are thinking about swapping blockchain hats for bank charters—all thanks to the Trump administration’s unexpected charm offensive toward crypto. 😲

Trump’s Crypto Cozying Up: Banking on Digital Dollars

According to the ever-mysterious “anonymous sources” (because who else would spill the beans?), several U.S. digital asset companies like Circle and Paxos—those familiar names in the stablecoin universe—are flirting with the idea of becoming bona fide banks. Not to be left out, Coinbase (the crypto exchange that’s probably your cousin’s new favorite app) and Bitgo (the folks who keep digital assets from vanishing into the ether) are also in the running for banking licenses.

The Wall Street Journal’s report notes that these firms are taking a page from the Trump playbook, which, since January 20, has swapped crypto skepticism for a more “let’s be friends” vibe. This apparently involves top crypto proponents being parachuted into government seats, like Paul Atkins, the newly confirmed SEC chairman whose pro-crypto leanings are about as subtle as a Tesla in a coal mine.

This move is enough to coax crypto firms out from their post-FTX collapse sobering period, where banks gave them the cold shoulder colder than a Bitcoin winter. Now, whispers suggest some want national trust or industrial bank charters so they can do all those bank-y things like taking deposits and handing out loans—because nothing says “trust me” like a digital coin-backed IOU. Others are angling for licenses to issue stablecoins, probably for that “stable-ish” thrill.

Yet, becoming a bank isn’t all moonlight and lambos. It means opening up to more bureaucratic peepers and potentially sky-high costs—as Anchorage Digital, the sole crypto firm to boldly wear a banking charter, can attest. They’ve racked up a tab that would make even a Wall Street financier flinch. Oh, and they got dinged by regulators for some anti-money laundering glitches, reminding us all that crypto compliance is less “party” and more “paperwork marathon.” 😅

Anchorage’s CEO Nathan McCauley candidly admits that bank charters come with their own brand of headaches but remains optimistic that the marriage between bank rules and crypto can actually work—sort of like oil and vinegar once you give it a good shake.

“[The] whole gamut of regulatory and compliance obligations that banks have can be intertwined with the crypto industry,” McCauley muses, probably while sipping a latte in a boardroom somewhere pondering how to explain “blockchain” to the regulators yet again.

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2025-04-22 07:58