Anchorage Digital, the first crypto firm to get a US bank charter, wants international banks to replace correspondent banking relationships with a new service offering US-regulated stablecoin rails to non-US institutions.
The bank is launching what it calls “Stablecoin Solutions” to allow easy cross-border movement of dollar-pegged assets, combining “coinage and redemption, custody, fiat treasury management and settlement” into one service, it said in a Thursday statement.
“Stablecoins are becoming core financial infrastructure,” Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, said in a statement. “Stablecoin Solutions provides banks with a federally regulated way to move dollars globally using blockchain rails without compromising custody, compliance or operational control.”
Now that the US has a new law regulating stablecoin issuers under last year’s Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, Anchorage Digital – already regulated under a federal charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – is moving to offer the stablecoin services. While it is ready to handle any brand of stablecoin, a field currently dominated by Tethers $USDT and Circle $USDC, the company said institutions can natively mint and redeem tokens “issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, including Tethers USA₮, Athena Labs’ USDtb, OSL’s USDGO and upcoming Western Union’s USD issuances.”
Correspondent banking allows foreign banks to tap another institution to handle their cross-border activities, such as wire transfers, currency exchange, receiving foreign deposits and otherwise acting as a third-party proxy. But it can be expensive and time-consuming. Anchorage Digital suggests it can use stablecoin rails to reduce settlement delays and simplify the complexity of the existing system.
The GENIUS Act that will govern this business has yet to be implemented by the federal agencies involved in regulation and supervision, such as the OCC and other banking oversight bodies. These agencies have begun to propose some of the future rules.
Some provisions on stablecoin dividends are now being reopened in the ongoing Senate debate on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
Read more: Tether invests $100 million in US crypto bank Anchorage, valued at $4.2 billion
