OCC Grants Trust Charter to Protego Trust Bank
- The enterprise-focused digital asset trust will be able to convert into a nationally chartered bank.
- Protego will have 18 months to comply with the OCC’s terms before it can begin to operate.
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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted conditional approval for a trust charter to Seattle-based Protego Trust Bank.
Specifically built to serve the digital asset needs of institutional clients, Protego is the second applicant to receive conditional approval from the OCC after Anchorage. According to the company’s announcement, the new federal charter will enable Protego to convert from a Washington State-chartered trust company into a nationally chartered trust bank.
The bank has 18 months to meet all the terms of its conditional approval before it can begin to operate as a national bank, the OCC said in a press release.
“Protego’s integrated offering will be of great benefit to institutions that want to be able to store their assets in a federally regulated bank,” said Jonathan Silverman, Protego’s chief strategy officer.
Chris Hunter, the head of development at Protego, said the bank has already secured commitments for more than $1.5 billion in assets under custody. The bank is currently the first and only digital asset-focused trust company chartered by the State of Washington.
- The current head of the OCC has been in talks with the FDIC and the Federal Reserve about setting up an “interagency policy sprint team” focused entirely on crypto.
- The Federal Reserve Vice Chairman of Supervision, Randal Quarles, said the agencies are already engaged in a “joint effort” to come up with definitions related to crypto.
United States Federal Reserve Bank building on Constitution Avenue, Washington, DC, USA, 5 March 2009. Shutterstock
- The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has allowed banks to use stablecoins.
- Banks can now buy, sell, and issue their own stablecoins, as well as use blockchain networks.