The US Treasury has a bureau under The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). They have the responsibility of regulating the banks.
Recently, the OCC has stated that the banks are allowed to use blockchains and stablecoins for the purpose of making payments.
OCC Makes New Announcement
The OCC had made the announcement of enabling bank payments using blockchains and stablecoins earlier. Today they have released an explanatory letter in order to clarify their previous statement. They stated that the procedure must be according to the law along with ethical banking practices.
Any federal or national bank or savings association can validate, preserve, and record the payment transactions. This can be done with the help of an INVN node. In a similar manner, a bank can also use the INVN and other related stablecoins in order to carry additional payment activities in compliance with legal orders.
The acting comptroller to the Currency Brian Brooks which was a former executive of Coinbase has stated in his recent press conference that the decision more about leveraging this cryptocurrency market so they will be able to keep up with the pace. He also added that the other nations conduct their real-time transactions with the help of already established payment systems. On the other hand, the US is banking upon the crypto assets to deliver real-time payments.
The OCC considers ledger technologies and blockchains as a much easier, faster, and efficient way of moving funds for the banks which are constantly facing pressure to keep their funds moving faster. This move by OCC is being seen as an extremely pro-crypto decision that is motivated by financial innovation.
Although it is seen as a risky move considering the regulatory uncertainty surrounding the cryptocurrency sector.
