Federal Banking Regulators On Crypto-Asset Safekeeping

Just days prior to the passage of the GENIUS Act on stablecoins by Congress, on July 14th, the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, the "Agencies") issued a joint statement called "Crypto-Asset Safekeeping by Banking Organizations". Safekeeping refers to any service provided by banks that involves "holding an asset on a customer's behalf" and safekeeping of crypto-assets means controlling the keys associated with the crypto-assets. The Agencies distinguish safekeeping from situations where the bank is a full-fledged custodian of assets (i.e., safekeeping services alone may not rise to the level of causing banks to have a fiduciary duty to the customer). This means that the statement applies whether or not the bank has a fiduciary duty to the customer.