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ARTICLE · 24 JULY 2025

Federal Banking Agencies Clarify Expectations For Crypto-Asset Safekeeping

Winston Taylor
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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board (Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (together, the "Agencies") have issued a joint statement...

United StatesTechnology
Carl Fornaris
Carl Fornaris
Andrew Maxwell Hinkes
Andrew Maxwell Hinkes
Kimberly A. Prior
Kimberly A. Prior
Daniel T. Stabile
Daniel T. Stabile
Logan Payne
Logan Payne

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board (Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (together, the "Agencies") have issued a joint statement clarifying the regulatory expectations applicable to the safekeeping of crypto-assets by banking organizations. The interagency statement (the "Safekeeping Guidance") offers a structured articulation of how legacy supervisory principles are expected to operate in the emerging context of crypto-asset safekeeping by banking organizations.

New Service Risk Assessment as a Foundational Obligation

Although the OCC's "New, Modified, or Expanded Banking Products and Services: Risk Management Principles" guidance applies on its face only to OCC-supervised banking organizations, the Safekeeping Guidance directs Board- and FDIC-supervised banking organizations to follow it as well.1

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