Coinbase is exploring the possibility of obtaining a banking license in the United States

What’s new? Leading US centralized crypto exchange (CEX) Coinbase is considering applying for a US banking license. In a statement to the media, representatives of the company specified that they are actively studying the issue, but have not yet made any official decisions.

Material by Cointelegraph

What else is known? Earlier, the media became known that similar plans have issuers of stablecoins Circle and Paxos, as well as crypto custodian BitGo.

A banking license will allow crypto firms to operate like traditional financial institutions, accepting deposits and issuing loans. However, companies with a banking license are subject to stricter reporting and oversight.

One crypto firm with such a license is Anchorage Digital. Despite its existence, the company has been the subject of an investigation by the El Dorado Task Force within the US Department of Homeland Security.

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The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) gave Paxos preliminary approval for a license back in 2021. Now following it, many crypto companies may consider applying as regulators have softened their approach to the industry.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently stated the need for a legal framework for stablecoins due to the wider adoption of digital assets. This month, the House Financial Services Committee passed a transparency and accountability bill for stablecoins, known as STABLE. The Senate is considering a separate GENIUS stablecoin bill.

The documents have differences in their approach to regulation. STABLE emphasizes federal oversight, while the GENIUS bill seeks a more flexible path that takes into account both federal and state regulations.

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STABLE would impose a two-year moratorium on the issuance of stablecoins backed by independently issued digital assets, and require reserves to be kept separate from business funds.

GENIUS would create a legal framework for payments in stablecoins and encourage US issuers to leverage the dollar’s global dominance. It would also strengthen AML rules, reserve, liquidity standards, and sanctions checks. It would classify issuers as financial institutions.