Anchorage Digital, the first cryptocurrency company to receive a U.S. banking license, is looking to international banks to replace correspondent banking relationships with a new service that provides non-U.S. institutions with a U.S.-regulated stablecoin track.
The bank said in a statement on Thursday that it is launching a so-called “stablecoin solution” to allow easy cross-border movement of U.S. dollar-pegged assets, combining “minting and redemption, custody, fiat treasury management and settlement” into a single service.
“Stablecoins are becoming core financial infrastructure,” Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, said in a statement. “Stablecoin solutions provide banks with a federally regulated way to move dollars around the world using blockchain rails without impacting custody, compliance or operational controls.”
Now that the U.S. has a new law governing stablecoin issuers under last year’s Stablecoin Guidance and Establishing a National Innovation Act (GENIUS), Anchorage Digital (already regulated under a federal charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) is starting to offer stablecoin services. While it’s ready to handle any brand of stablecoin (the space is currently dominated by Tether’s $USDT and Circle $USDC), the company says institutions can locally mint and redeem “tokens issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, including Tether’s USA₮, Ethena Labs’ USDtb, OSL’s USDGO, and upcoming tokens such as Western Union’s USDPT.”
Correspondent banking allows a foreign bank to entrust another institution to handle its cross-border activities, such as wire transfers, currency exchange, accepting foreign deposits and otherwise acting as a third-party agent. But this can be expensive and time-consuming. Anchorage Digital suggested it could use stablecoin rails to reduce settlement delays and simplify the complexity of existing systems.
Federal agencies involved in regulation and oversight, such as the OCC and other bank regulators, have not yet implemented the GENIUS Act that governs this business. The agencies have already begun proposing some future regulations.
In the ongoing Senate negotiations for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, some provisions regarding stablecoin yields are now being revisited.
Read more: Tether invests $100 million in US cryptocurrency bank Anchorage, valuing it at $4.2 billion
