Client Alert
On April 24, 2025, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) withdrew¹ its previously issued supervisory guidance for banks related to certain crypto-asset activities. This development marks the latest in a series of coordinated regulatory shifts by federal banking agencies toward a more innovation-supportive framework for digital asset activities, building on the recent action of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) in Interpretive Letter 1183, which we discussed in a previous Client Alert.
Key Takeaways
- Banks are no longer required to seek pre-approval or supervisory non-objection letters from the FRB, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) or Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) before engaging in certain crypto-asset activities.
- All three federal banking agencies have now adopted a unified position, reinforcing their commitment to supporting responsible innovation in a safe and sound manner.
- Further joint guidance from the agencies is expected.
The FRB’s announcement rescinds its 2022 Supervisory Letter (SR 22-6) establishing the advance notification requirement for state member banks prior to their engagement in crypto-asset activities, and the 2023 Supervisory Letter (SR 23-8) regarding the supervisory non-objection process for state member banks engagement in dollar token activities.2 The FRB’s action follows the FDIC’s Financial Institutions Letter-7-20253 release on March 28, 2025 and the OCC’s Interpretative Letter 1183, both of which rescinded a parallel prior notification requirements for supervised banks.
On the same day, the FDIC also announced, together with the FRB, withdrawal from joint statements on crypto-asset risks to banking organizations dated, January 3, 2023, and liquidity risks associated with crypto-asset related activities, dated February 23, 2023, which was previously withdrawn also by the OCC. This leaves only the Joint Statement on Crypto-Asset Policy Sprint Initiative and Next Steps, dated November 23, 2021,4 as the only crypto-related supervisory guidance from the FRB, OCC and FDIC issued under previous administrations that has not been withdrawn. In that document the banking regulators listed certain crypto-asset activities on which they pledged to provide additional clarity, including crypto-asset custody services, facilitation of customer purchases and sales of crypto-assets, loans collateralized by crypto-assets, issuance and distribution of stablecoins, and activities involving the holding of crypto-assets on balance sheet.
With these developments, the FRB, FDIC and OCC have now aligned their positions, marking a unified regulatory approach that favors future collaboration and issuance of joint guidance for banks navigating crypto-asset and token related activities. This coordinated posture underscores the agencies’ intent to provide regulatory clarity while supporting innovation in crypto-asset and banking sectors. Given the forthcoming nature of that guidance, the banking industry still should consult counsel and consider engaging with banking regulators before undertaking new crypto-asset and token-related activities.
What to Expect Next From Regulators
In the announcement, the FRB stated that it will continue engaging with the FDIC and the OCC to provide additional guidance to support innovation. Although the FRB’s brief announcement on crypto-asset activities was limited to recissions and withdrawal statements, it is expected that a more in-depth official FRB statement will be forthcoming. As the future supervisory, rulemaking, and broader legislative efforts continue to evolve, the industry is eager for a crypto-assets framework to build around and enable predictable and consistent responses from regulators.
- https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/bcreg20250424a.htm
- As noted in footnote 4 of SR 23-8, the OCC uses the term “stablecoin” and the FRB uses the term “dollar token” but the terms are intended to be synonymous for purposes of the supervisory letters.
- Rescinded FDIC Financial Institution Letter FIL-16-2022 (April 7, 2022).
- https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/files/bcreg20211123a1.pdf
