The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) clarified on May 7 that federally chartered banks and savings associations may offer crypto services, namely custody and execution, including through third-party providers, provided they adhere to sound risk management practices and legal compliance. 

The clarification, issued through Interpretive Letter 1184, confirms and expands on earlier guidance related to crypto activities.

The OCC stated that institutions may buy and sell assets held in custody at the customer’s direction and outsource crypto-asset functions, including custody and trade execution services, to third parties. 

These activities remain subject to the same oversight and operational standards applied to traditional financial services, including due diligence, third-party risk management, and cybersecurity protocols.

The letter builds on prior OCC guidance outlined in Interpretive Letters 1170 and 1183. It also reinforces the regulator’s view that digital asset services can fall within the scope of permissible banking activities when conducted safely and in compliance with applicable regulations.

Regulatory context and policy shift

The clarification follows a policy change first announced by the OCC on March 7, which removed the requirement for prior regulatory approval for certain crypto-related activities.

That earlier announcement departed from previous supervisory practices under former President Joe Biden’s administration, when banks needed to notify examiners and receive a letter of no objection before engaging in crypto services.

In its March update, the OCC confirmed that national banks may engage in crypto-asset custody and stablecoin activities and even participate as validators on distributed ledger networks. 

The updated guidance effectively reversed previous cautionary statements and removed procedural hurdles, allowing banks to incorporate crypto services into their operations without seeking advance approval.

At the time, acting comptroller of the currency Rodney Hood said the OCC aimed to streamline oversight while maintaining high safety standards. 

Reinforcing permission

The May 7 letter builds on that policy foundation, formally integrating execution services and sub-custodian relationships into the scope of authorized activity.

The OCC reiterated that institutions must manage associated risks, whether they handle crypto services internally or through third parties.

Interpretive Letter 1184 reaffirms the permission to federally regulated banks to engage with digital assets in a custodial capacity, provided these activities are executed with appropriate safeguards and in compliance with federal banking law. 

The OCC’s updated position affirms crypto services as permissible under existing authorities and signals continued regulatory normalization of digital asset services within the US banking sector.

Just four months before the criminal sentence to run the $577 million cryptocurrency mining ponge scheme, the two Estonian founders of Hashfulle appeared to have been misrepresented by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In a joint letter to the court last week, lawyers for Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Tourogin told District Judge Robert Lasnik of the West District of Washington that both men had received “anxious communication” from the DHS and ordered them to leave immediately.

“Now is the time to leave the United States,” read an email to Potapenko and Tourogin dated April 11th. “DHS has ended your parole. Don’t try to stay in the US – the federal government will find you. Leave the US immediately.”

The email contained in a letter filed last week “has threatened both criminal prosecutions, civil fines, penalties and men with other legal options available to the federal government if they stayed in the country. It’s similar to an email that undocumented immigrants and US citizens have received over the past few days.

Ironically, Potapenko and Turogin are not in the United States of their own will. They were handed over from their hometown of Estonia in 2022 at the U.S. Department of Justice request, with an 18 count indictment tied to the hash flare scheme. They initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, but in February they both agreed to confiscate more than $400 million in assets, pleading guilty to one count of a conspiracy to commit wire fraud in order to sentence them to a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. They both have been supplying bonds to the Seattle area since July last year.

“Ivan and Sergei didn’t want anything more than to go home soon, but they knew they also had to go to the court order to stay in King County,” Mark Vini, a partner at Reed Smith LLP and a lead lawyer for Penko, wrote to the court in the pair’s joint letter. Bini did not respond to Koindsk’s request for comment.

In his letter, Vini said the DHS email caused both Potapenko and Tourogin to “significant anxiety.”

“We and our clients have all seen the latest news. Immigration authorities have made mistakes, individuals who should not be detained have been detained and sometimes deported to places where they should not be deported,” Bini wrote.

Six days after Bini’s letter to the judge, the DOJ filed its own letter to the court, saying that the prosecutor coordinated with the DHS’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) division to secure a one-year postponement in the self-report order.

“This should provide enough time for the sentence to take place,” the prosecutor’s letter said.

DHS did not respond to Coindesk’s request for comment.

Potapenko and Turogin are scheduled to be sentenced in Seattle on August 14th. Their lawyers say they will demand that they be sentenced to service, meaning they don’t mean extra time in prison and be sent home to Estonia “quickly”;