So-called “gas fees” – or network fees – may be paid on blockchain networks, the national bank regulator said Tuesday in an interpretive letter, to facilitate “otherwise permissible activities.”
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said national banks may also hold as principal amounts of crypto-assets on balance sheets necessary to pay network fees “for which the bank anticipates a reasonably foreseeable need.”
The letter was issued in response to a bank request that the OCC confirm that it may pay network fees on blockchain networks, as an activity “incidental to the business of banking.” The bank also asked if it could also hold crypto assets on its balance sheet necessary to pay network fees. The agency confirmed both activities are permissible.
The bank’s name was redacted in the letter made public by the OCC.
The letter also confirmed that the bank could hold amounts of crypto-assets as principal “necessary for testing otherwise permissible crypto-asset-related platforms, whether internally developed or acquired from a third party.”
In the letter, the OCC notes that the bank intends to perform a risk and compliance assessment aimed at ensuring two things. First, that the way the bank conducts the proposed activities is consistent with sound risk management practices and aligned with the Bank’s overall business plans and strategies. Second, that the bank “will be able to conduct the proposed activities in a safe and sound manner as mandated by law and consistent with OCC regulations and guidance for crypto-asset-related activities.”
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