SD-chartered trust company gets conditional OCC approval for national trust bank charter

Conditional approval of the conversion of Anchorage Trust Company of Sioux Falls, S.D., to become a national trust bank called Anchorage Digital Bank, National Association (ADB-NA) was granted and announced Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The OCC said that as an enforceable condition of approval, Anchorage Trust, a non-depository public trust company, entered into an operating agreement which details capital and liquidity requirements and the OCC’s risk management expectations, among other things.

Anchorage Trust, according to the OCC’s letter of approval, currently offers custody services primarily to institutional investors that transact in digital assets and cryptocurrencies, including but not limited to certain tokenized securities and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Zcash, and Filecoin. “In addition to its core custody services, Anchorage Trust provides various custody services to its customers that are distinct from, but ancillary to, its core custody services,” it said. “These services will, among other things, allow customers to be active participants in the protocols underlying each digital asset.”

As Anchorage Digital Bank, the letter notes, the firm will continue performing the current activities of Anchorage Trust so will be a national bank whose operations are those of a trust company “and activities related thereto,” the letter notes.

The letter says that Anchorage Digital Bank, prior to its effective conversion date, must purchase adequate fidelity bond coverage, apply for membership in the Federal Reserve System, and obtain all other required regulatory approvals; and its directors must own qualifying shares.

Approval is subject to certain conditions, including among them that Anchorage Digital Bank limit its business to the operations of a trust company and related activities and “shall not engage in activities that would cause it to be a ‘bank’ as defined in section 2(c) of the Bank Holding Company Act.”

OCC Conditionally Approves Conversion of Anchorage Digital Bank

Conditional approval

Operating agreement