Breaking! The Federal Reserve tears off the "de-banking" restriction, making a key step in the process of crypto compliance
Regulatory Relaxation: The "restriction" on crypto bank cooperation is lifted
On June 24, 2025, the Federal Reserve announced the removal of "reputational risk" from the bank review criteria, replacing it with specific financial risk indicators to assess bank safety. This move ends the "Suffocation Point Action 2.0" initiated in 2022 — a policy that required banks to obtain regulatory approval before engaging in crypto business, leading to 78% of U.S. banks refusing crypto customers, and the number of banks servicing crypto enterprises plummeting from 37 to 5, with stablecoin custody scale crashing by 82%
The policy shift aligns the Federal Reserve with OCC and FDIC regulatory standards. The FDIC allowed banks in March 2025 to directly engage in crypto custody and stablecoin issuance without prior approval, as long as they meet capital adequacy requirements (Core Tier 1 Capital ≥ 6%)
Why is it a "monumental benefit"? Three major breakthroughs
Banking Channel Reopened: Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have restarted evaluations of crypto business, Circle has reached a real-time settlement agreement with Bank of New York Mellon, and the daily trading volume of USDC has rebounded to $45 billion; Coinbase and Wells Fargo's compliance deposit and withdrawal channel has passed testing, expected to operate in Q3
End of Regulatory Arbitrage: The three major institutions simultaneously abolished the "pre-review system for crypto business," eliminating regulatory ambiguity. Previously, due to multiple regulatory sources, banks were forced to avoid crypto customers to mitigate compliance risks
Accelerated Legislative Process: The "Responsible Financial Innovation Act" promoted by Senator Cynthia Lummis proposes to classify most crypto assets as commodities, regulated by CFTC instead of SEC, and prohibits exchanges from misappropriating customer assets, currently entering the fast lane of legislation
Hidden Dangers: Policy relaxation ≠ peace of mind
Selective Opening by Banks: Major banks may prioritize serving leading firms like Coinbase. Small and medium projects need to prove anti-money laundering capabilities with on-chain data
Capital Requirements are a Bottleneck: The FDIC requires banks holding Bitcoin to calculate capital with a risk weight of 1250%, making it difficult for small and medium banks to meet the standards
Political Cycle Backlash: Policy uncertainties exist in the election year of 2025. In 2020, the OCC's "Crypto Custody Guidelines" were repealed by the Democrats, and the industry needs to establish a resilient compliance framework against volatility
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