Forbes: U.S. Regulatory Easing Drives Fintech Banking, Crypto Firms Accelerate Competition for Banking Licenses

According to Forbes, as the regulatory environment in the United States gradually relaxes, the fintech industry is accelerating its transformation towards "licensed banking." Last year, the approval process for trust bank licenses significantly sped up, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) approving conditional applications for national trust bank licenses for five companies, including Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. It is reported that having a banking license is also seen as an important means to hedge against fluctuations in the capital markets.

Industry insiders believe that the era of fintech companies merely serving as front-end channels for traditional banks is coming to an end. An increasing number of digital finance and crypto institutions are beginning to directly seek banking licenses. By accepting custodial deposits and connecting to the federal payment system, crypto companies can obtain a more stable and lower-cost source of funding.