Brane Inc., a leading digital asset custodian, announced readiness to begin working with banks in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. On July 22, 2020, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the ‘OCC’) announced that federally chartered banks and thrifts in the United States can provide cryptocurrency custody services to their customers. Brane is ideally positioned to begin working with banks to provide crypto-custodial solutions as a white-label partner to such major financial institutions.
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The announcement by the OCC, a key regulator of the U.S. banking sector, marks a paradigm shift in how the established U.S. banking sector views the embryonic digital asset (including cryptocurrency) ecosystem. Until now, traditional financial services institutions in the U.S. have been unable to hold crypto-assets for their clients, despite the growing demand for this service. Without recognized guidelines from regulators, banks and savings associations were reluctant to enter the field.  This announcement removes this uncertainty and clears the way for national banks to hold these assets as a custodian.
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“This announcement by the OCC provides validation of both the sector as a whole and Brane’s business plan. Now more than ever, the future is digital, and Brane is perfectly placed to participate fully in this ‘brave new world.’ Brane is open for business to the US.” T. Paul Rowland, Brane’s CFO and Corporate Secretary.
Although banks in the U.S. now have the green light to proceed with providing custody of digital assets, including cryptocurrency, it is Brane’s opinion that most banks will not want to develop their own systems and processes. Having developed relationships with all of the Big Six Canadian banks and a number of US-based banks, Brane believes that banks will prefer to rely on third-party service providers that have deep understanding and experience of blockchain and the crypto-asset space. Brane’s technology is an ideal solution as a white-label partner for financial services institutions wishing to provide this needed service for their customers and it augments its current strategy of providing this service directly to its own customers.
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