The stablecoin bill in hand, along with the restless Wall Street bankers.

Written by: Rhythm Worker, kkk

Stablecoins "landed", and the "ceiling" of American crypto finance has been opened again.

Just last night, the U.S. House of Representatives officially passed the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, providing a "shoreline framework" for the stablecoin sector and establishing a clear regulatory tone for the entire digital asset industry. The White House then announced that Trump will personally sign the GENIUS Act this Friday. From now on, stablecoins will no longer be experimental products in a gray area, but will soon be written into U.S. law as "official currency instruments" backed by the government.

Almost at the same time, the three major financial regulatory giants, the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC, jointly issued guidance a few days ago, explicitly stating that U.S. banks can provide custody services for crypto assets to their clients. Banks and institutions across Wall Street can no longer hold back.

Traditional banks raise the banner of stablecoins

As the second largest bank in the United States, Bank of America (BoA) has officially confirmed that it is actively preparing a stablecoin product and is considering collaborating with other financial institutions for a joint launch. It stated, "We are ready, but are still waiting for further clarity from the market and regulators."

"We have done a lot of preparation work." Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stated that they are currently conducting in-depth research on customer needs and will launch stablecoin products at the appropriate time, possibly collaborating with other financial institutions.

At the same time, Bank of America has also launched a weekly on-chain research report called "On Chain," which clearly focuses on stablecoins, RWA, payment settlements, and infrastructure. The release of "On Chain" coincides with a critical week in Washington, where lawmakers are reviewing the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and the Anti-Central Bank Digital Currency Surveillance Act, all of which could influence the U.S. policy direction regarding stablecoins and digital infrastructure.

The research team pointed out that "rather than speculation, we focus on the architecture that can truly change the underlying financial system," and emphasized that Ethereum is expected to play a key role in promoting the interoperability of digital assets. They even revealed that they are already piloting stablecoin collaborations with mainstream retail platforms such as Shopify, Coinbase, and Stripe, with the goal of breaking through the original gameplay of stablecoins and bringing about a new business model.

"As long as regulations are clear, banks are ready to accept cryptocurrency payments," said Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.

Citibank is also in a "waiting for the wind to come before flying" posture.

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser made it clear that the bank is actively advancing its stablecoin-related plans, viewing it as an important cornerstone for future international payments. Citigroup is betting on stablecoins, driven by a reflection on global cross-border payments: high fees and slow transaction times. Currently, the hidden costs of cross-border transactions can often reach up to 7%, while existing interbank networks are far inferior to on-chain solutions in terms of availability and efficiency. Citigroup's goal is to build a new payment rail that is available around the clock and programmable with stablecoins, enabling corporate clients to transfer money globally at low cost and high efficiency.

As an "old acquaintance" in the cryptocurrency circle, JPMorgan is moving a bit faster.

On June 18, JPMorgan Chase announced it will pilot a deposit token called JPMD, deployed on the Coinbase-supported Base blockchain. Initially, the token will be available only to JPMorgan's institutional clients, and will subsequently expand to a broader user base and more cryptocurrencies following regulatory approval in the United States.

This is the first time Wall Street giants have directly issued traditional bank deposits on-chain, marking a key step in the deep integration of traditional finance and the decentralized world. JPMD is a "permissioned deposit token," corresponding 1:1 to JPMorgan's US dollar deposits, supporting 24-hour real-time transfers, with transaction costs as low as $0.01, and enjoying traditional financial protections such as deposit insurance and interest.

Compared to existing stablecoins, JPMD has stronger regulatory compliance and trust endorsement, promising to bring unprecedented capital volume and institutional liquidity to the Base chain. Naveen Mallela, head of JPM blockchain, stated: "This is not about embracing crypto, but redefining banking."

Looking at the entire American banking industry, the speed at which stablecoins are entering the market and moving on-chain has far exceeded the most optimistic expectations within the crypto space. A true wave of financial transformation has arrived.

"The green light is on," can traditional banks buy Bitcoin now?

"The green light is on, and traditional finance is rapidly entering the market. The barriers between banks and cryptocurrencies are collapsing. This is extremely beneficial for cryptocurrencies."

As the founder of Profitz Academy, Merlijn stated, on July 14, the three major banking regulatory agencies in the United States, the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC, jointly issued a statement requiring banks to establish a comprehensive risk governance system in key management, asset selection, cybersecurity, audit supervision, third-party custody, and compliance risk control when providing related services.

Although no new regulations have been established, this guidance systematically clarifies the regulators' expectations for crypto custody services for the first time. Crypto finance is transitioning from a "gray experimental field" to a "regulatory track," and traditional finance is no longer watching from the sidelines.

This signal quickly triggered a response in the market. Wall Street giants are disclosing the latest developments in their stablecoin and other cryptocurrency businesses, trying to gain an edge in the new round of financial infrastructure reconstruction. At the same time, crypto-native institutions like Circle and Ripple are also actively promoting compliance processes, aiming to consolidate their market position as the global regulatory framework gradually takes shape.

This also means that the boundaries between future banks, crypto asset management, and trading platforms are beginning to blur. Traditional banks are even directly "seizing" market share from crypto asset management and trading platforms.

The Crypto Battle Between Traditional Banks and Native Asset Management

On July 15, Standard Chartered Bank announced that it would provide spot trading services for Bitcoin and Ethereum to its institutional clients, becoming the first globally significant bank (G-SIBs) to do so. The service will initially launch in London, Hong Kong, and Frankfurt, covering Asia and Europe in the early stages, with plans to operate 24/5 continuously in the future, directly integrating with traditional forex platforms. Corporate clients and asset management companies will no longer need to go around in circles or bypass restrictions to open accounts; they can directly buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum like forex, with settlement and custody options available for self-custody or third-party services.

In fact, Standard Chartered Bank has been laying out digital asset custody and trading through Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets for several years now. This time is merely a timely disclosure, opening up all accumulated resources. Rene Michau, the global head of digital assets at Standard Chartered, made it very clear: the spot crypto business will initially push BTC and ETH, and in the future, it will expand to more crypto products, including forward, structured, and cash-settled contracts, fully aligning with the business lines of crypto trading platforms.

At the same time, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and others are also preparing to launch cryptocurrency custody and related services. What you thought was impossible in the past has now become a reality. Just 12 months ago, you were wondering "Will JPMorgan custody Bitcoin?" Now the only question left is "Which bank will be the first to grab the largest share?"

Another noteworthy example is the "new-style banks" - such as Revolut in London, which relies heavily on cryptocurrency trading for a significant portion of its revenue. Its long-term goal is to apply for a local banking license in the United States to fully penetrate the mainstream financial ecosystem.

Peter Thiel's Ambition: Building a New Silicon Valley Bank

In addition to asset custody and seizing market share in crypto-native asset management and trading platforms, Wall Street's ambitious players have also found new entry points in account services and credit support.

Multiple mainstream financial media outlets confirm: Peter Thiel is collaborating with tech billionaires Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale to launch a new bank named Erebor, and has officially applied for a national bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The target customers of this bank are the cryptocurrency, AI, defense, and manufacturing startups that "mainstream banks are unwilling to serve," trying to become an alternative after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

The founders of this bank also have a distinct "Silicon Valley political capital crossover" characteristic: Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, leader of Founders Fund), Palmer Luckey (founder of Oculus, co-founder of Anduril), Joe Lonsdale (co-founder of Palantir, founder of 8VC). All three are important political donors to Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election and are closely related to the "GENIUS Act" currently being promoted by Congress.

According to the application documents submitted by Erebor to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Founders Fund will participate as the primary capital supporter for the investment, while the three founders will not be involved in daily management and will only engage in the governance structure as directors. The bank's management will be led by a former Circle advisor and the CEO of compliance software company Aer Compliance, aiming to clearly delineate the boundaries between politics and operations, emphasizing its application positioning as an institutional financial entity.

Learning from the lessons of Silicon Valley Bank, Erebor clearly stated that it will implement a 1:1 reserve requirement system and control the loan/deposit ratio to below 50%, preventing maturity mismatches and credit expansion from the source. Its application documents show that stablecoin services are one of the core businesses of the bank, planning to support the custody, issuance, and redemption of compliant stablecoins such as USDC, DAI, and RLUSD, aiming to create "the most regulated stablecoin trading institution" and provide enterprises with legal and compliant fiat currency entry and exit channels and on-chain asset services.

Its customer profile is equally precise: targeting innovative enterprises in virtual currency, artificial intelligence, defense technology, and high-end manufacturing, which are considered "high risk" by traditional banks, as well as their employees and investors; it also serves "international clients"—those who find it difficult to enter the dollar financial system, rely on dollar clearing, or wish to reduce cross-border transaction costs with stablecoins. Erebor plans to establish "agency banking relationships" to act as a super interface connecting these enterprises to the dollar system.

Its business model is also quite native to crypto: deposit and loan services use Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral assets, without involving traditional mortgage or auto loans; at the same time, it holds a small amount of BTC and ETH on its balance sheet for operational needs (such as paying gas fees), without engaging in speculative trading. It is worth noting that Erebor has also clarified its regulatory boundaries: it does not provide asset custody services that require a trust license, only offering on-chain fund settlement and not directly holding user assets.

In short, this is an advanced version of Silicon Valley Bank, and under various crypto-friendly policies, Erebor is highly likely to strive to become one of the first "dollar relay banks" to custody mainstream stablecoins such as USDC and RLUSD in a compliant manner, providing a federal clearing path for stablecoins.

National bank license, the future of crypto banking

Against the backdrop of the stablecoin bill being finalized and the green light from Washington, it's clear to everyone that the next ranking competition among Wall Street bankers has quietly begun.

The "National Trust Bank Charter" is an important checkpoint in this ranking competition. It is one of the "top-tier" licenses in the U.S. financial system and represents the most realistic path for all crypto assets, institutional custody, and stablecoin companies to enter the mainstream financial system.

The banking system in the United States is composed of three core federal licenses: National Bank, Federal Savings Association (FSA), and National Trust Bank. The first two are traditional banks and savings associations, with a long history, high licensing barriers, and outrageous thresholds. The National Trust Bank license is specifically designed for trust, custody, pension, and other businesses, aligning perfectly with the new players in the crypto space who want to comply with "holding assets."

Its gold content is even higher than most people imagine. First of all, the national trust bank license is equivalent to an interstate passport; as long as you obtain this license, you can operate in all 50 states of the United States without having to apply in each state. In addition, this license allows licensed institutions to provide customers with institutional-level asset custody, digital currency custody, corporate trusts, pension management, and other diversified financial services. Although it cannot accept retail deposits or issue loans, this perfectly aligns with the "rigid demand" of crypto custodians — what everyone wants is asset security and the title of fiat currency custody with compliance and transparency.

More importantly, this is a license directly issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which is a federal-level banking license. With this license, cryptocurrency companies can apply to access the Federal Reserve's payment and settlement system, greatly enhancing liquidity and settlement efficiency.

Anchorage Digital: The First Crypto Custody Bank to Pioneer

The first cryptocurrency asset management to take the plunge in the industry is Anchorage Digital.

Anchorage Digital was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in California. It is a fintech company that focuses on "digital asset custody" services, specifically providing secure and compliant digital asset storage and custody services for institutional clients (such as funds, family offices, and trading platforms).

Before 2020, crypto asset companies could only legally engage in custody business through state-level trust licenses (such as the New York BitLicense and South Dakota trust license), which had significant limitations in terms of business scope and reputation.

In 2020, the OCC welcomed a "friend of the crypto world" - former Coinbase executive Brian Brooks took charge. Upon taking office, he made it clear for the first time: innovative digital asset companies are welcome to apply for federal banking licenses. Anchorage seized the opportunity and rushed to submit their application, with dozens of documents and hundreds of pages of materials, thoroughly covering KYC/AML, compliance, technological risk control, and management structure. On January 13, 2021, the OCC officially announced the approval, and Anchorage Digital Bank National Association was officially launched - this is the first truly compliant digital asset national trust bank in the United States.

After becoming the first "federally certified" cryptocurrency custodian bank in U.S. history, Anchorage Digital's status has soared, being regarded as a Wall Street-level institutional custodian service provider for multiple asset management firms and consortiums such as BlackRock and Cantor Fitzgerald.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long; the policy direction changed unexpectedly. OCC has changed personnel, regulations have tightened, and new applications for digital asset trusts were basically "stopped dead" overnight. Anchorage became the only player left, and this sector has been directly "frozen" for more than three years.

Until now, with Trump in power and the pro-crypto faction in control, a pro-cryptocurrency official from the Trump administration, Jonathan Gould, has been appointed as the acting head of the OCC, retracting some of the "banking guidelines" for the crypto industry set during the Biden era.

At the beginning of this month, the newly appointed OCC head Jonathan Gould, who previously served as Chief Legal Officer at blockchain infrastructure company Bitfury, has expertise in business, law, and regulation. His appointment has made the market keenly sense that the federal compliance window has slightly opened once again. Entrepreneurs, funds, and projects in the industry have started to "stir restlessly," waiting for a new round of license issuance.

Ultimate Game, Access to the Federal Reserve Clearing System

For the cryptocurrency circle, having just a "National Trust Bank License" is not enough; what truly makes everyone envious is the "access to the Federal Reserve's clearing system"—that is, the legendary "Master Account" (Fed Master Account).

This is a greater temptation for the cryptocurrency industry.

Direct settlement, clearing, transfer, and deposits with the Federal Reserve, without relying on third-party major banks. For cryptocurrency companies, as long as they qualify for a master account and place their stablecoin reserves directly at the central bank, it means completely connecting to the U.S. financial infrastructure, no longer being "outsiders" or "second-class citizens," but truly becoming the "regular army" endorsed by the U.S. financial system.

It is understood within the circle that this is the true meaning of "becoming regularized"; transitioning from being seen by the banking system as an outsider, a second-class citizen, to being recognized as a legitimate player by the U.S. financial system. Therefore, crypto stars like Circle, Ripple, Anchorage, and Paxos are all simultaneously securing federal trust bank licenses while relentlessly pursuing the approval of their main accounts.

However, due to concerns from the Federal Reserve regarding the potential misuse of the "master account" by cryptocurrency companies, which could pose risks to financial stability (such as a sudden large liquidation of risky assets affecting system liquidity), as well as potential regulatory challenges such as money laundering, illegal fund flows, and technical security, no pure cryptocurrency company has been approved for a Federal Reserve master account to date. Even Anchorage, which was the first to "test the waters," received its federal trust bank license, but its master account has still not been approved.

So who else is still trying to obtain a bank license?

Circle submitted materials at the end of June 2025, planning to establish a new bank called First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A. to directly custody USDC reserves and provide institutional-grade custody services.

Following closely, Ripple also officially announced in early July that it submitted an application to the OCC, while simultaneously applying for a federal master account, aiming to place the reserves of its stablecoin RLUSD directly in the central bank system, demonstrating a very aggressive stance.

The established custody company BitGo is also not falling behind and is waiting for OCC approval. According to public information, BitGo is one of the designated service providers for "Trump USD1" reserve custody.

In addition to these three most representative "regular troops" in the cryptocurrency space, Wise (formerly TransferWise) has also submitted a license application positioning itself as a non-depository custodian bank. New tech player Erebor Bank has boldly announced its intention to include new economic sectors such as AI, cryptocurrency, and national defense within its service radius. The first generation blockchain bank, First Blockchain Bank and Trust, had tried to enter the market during the Biden administration but quietly withdrew later due to tight regulatory scrutiny. It is rumored that Fidelity Digital Assets also plans to submit materials, but the official confirmation is still pending.

As long as Circle, Ripple, and BitGo can obtain this license, they will be able to bypass state-level compliance, expand nationwide, and even have the potential to connect to the Federal Reserve's main account—once achieved, the US dollar reserves of stablecoins can be placed in the central bank's vault, and their custody and clearing capabilities can directly compete with traditional Wall Street giants.

It seems that the regulatory authorities have been both hopeful and cautious regarding the desire of crypto companies to become banks. On one hand, the personnel changes at the OCC and the warming of policies have indeed provided a "window period" for crypto companies; on the other hand, these licenses do not equate to being able to conduct full banking operations, and they still cannot accept demand deposits or issue loans.

A new window has opened, but the threshold has not lowered. Who will be the first to knock on the door of the Federal Reserve? This will be the most exciting game in the second half between Wall Street bankers and crypto moguls, and the winner may even rewrite the financial landscape of the next decade.

For the crypto industry, stablecoins have officially landed, banks have officially opened their doors, and the previously parallel worlds of cryptocurrency and Wall Street have finally merged under regulatory sunlight. Assets that were once subject to repeated debates by regulators, banks, and capital markets are now entering the daily accounts of every American and the balance sheets of every global financial institution as "mainstream assets."

Source: BlockBeats Original