How regulatory shifts are redefining the future of banking and crypto

Anika Sidhika

Mon, Mar 24, 2025, 6:48 AM 7 min read

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) precocious lifted cardinal restrictions connected banks engaging with crypto, marking a large turning constituent successful the narration betwixt accepted concern and integer assets. With this decision, banks tin present research a wide scope of crypto services, including stablecoin issuance, custody solutions, planetary payments, and plus tokenisation, without requiring anterior approval. Banking has opened up a crypto future.

Liat Shetret, manager of Global Policy and Regulation astatine Elliptic, believes that for banks, this displacement is some an accidental and a challenge.

While regulatory clarity makes it easier to participate the crypto space, the work to support stringent compliance standards remains. “This determination is simply a wide awesome that crypto is nary longer a niche plus people but progressively a mainstream fiscal prospect,” says Shetret.

Shetret highlights that portion immoderate banks are inactive hesitant, those that enactment swiftly and wisely tin summation a competitory advantage. “This determination doesn’t conscionable unfastened doors; it accelerates the contention for institutions to seizure the crypto market,” she explains. “Those who determination rapidly and wisely volition beryllium poised for semipermanent success.”

As fiscal institutions task into integer assets, compliance emerges arsenic the foremost challenge. Banks accustomed to accepted anti-money laundering (AML) frameworks indispensable present accommodate to the nuances of crypto-related fiscal crime.

“Instead of waiting for issues to arise, banks should absorption connected real-time compliance to drawback risks early,” Shetret advises.

She emphasises that robust monitoring systems are crucial. “By mounting up beardown monitoring systems, they tin - and should - forestall problems earlier they escalate and debar costly harm power later,” she says. Financial transgression risks successful the crypto abstraction disagree from those successful fiat transactions, making it indispensable for institutions to integrate specialised compliance solutions, specified arsenic blockchain analytics.

The OCC’s determination reflects a broader planetary inclination of regulators moving toward structured and well-defined integer plus policies. While Asia-Pacific (APAC) has led with experimental regulatory sandboxes, European regulators person prioritised nationalist consultations and structured adaptation periods. In the US, the displacement marks a modulation from an enforcement-heavy attack to a much supportive regulatory framework.

“As regulators astir the satellite summation much knowing of integer assets and their risks, they volition apt follow akin approaches to the OCC,” Shetret notes. “Providing much clarity and enabling fiscal institutions to prosecute with crypto successful a much structured and regulated manner.”