The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a bureau of the US Treasury Department, has stated that banks may use stablecoins and blockchains for payments.

In an interpretive letter today, the OCC clarified that, as long as it complies with the law and sound banking practices, “a national bank or federal savings association may validate, store, and record payments transactions by serving as a node on an INVN [independent node verification network]. Likewise, a bank may use INVNs and related stablecoins to carry out other permissible payment activities.”

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks, a former Coinbase executive, indicated in a press release that the move is about leveraging the cryptocurrency industry to keep pace: “While governments in other countries have built real-time payments systems, the United States has relied on our innovation sector to deliver real-time payments technologies.”

Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, which operates the USDC stablecoin, tweeted, “This is a huge win for crypto and stablecoins.”

He added: “We are on a path towards all major economic activity being executed on-chain. It is tremendous to see such forward thinking support from the largest regulator of national banks in the United States.”

This article is being updated as information becomes available.

CoinsRead More