U.S. banking regulators to focus on custody, trading, stablecoins in crypto sprint

In their "crypto sprint" initiative, three U.S. federal regulatory agencies plan to provide more clarity on whether certain activities related to cryptocurrency assets are legally permitted, the agencies said in a joint statement. The agencies will focus on: crypto-asset safekeeping and traditional custody services, ancillary custody services, facilitating customer purchases and sales of crypto assets, loans collateralized by crypto assets, issuance and distribution of stablecoins, and activities involving holding crypto assets on balance sheets. The agencies are also looking at crypto assets in terms of expectations for safety and soundness, consumer protection, and compliance with existing laws and regulations. The statement was issued by the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — the three regulators most involved with bank regulation. In cryptocurrency trading on Tuesday, bitcoin (BTC-USD) is little changed at ~$57.5K over the past 24 hours, while