Federal Banking Regulators Pull Back Earlier Crypto-Activity Guidance
The Federal Reserve and FDIC withdrew earlier crypto-banking statements, while the Fed separately ended advance-notification and nonobjection expectations for certain bank crypto activities.
On April 24, 2025, the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation withdrew two joint statements issued in 2023 about banking organizations' crypto-asset risks and liquidity exposures. The agencies said banks could engage in permissible crypto-asset activities and serve crypto-related customers consistent with safety-and-soundness requirements and applicable law.
The Federal Reserve went further by rescinding its 2022 supervisory letter requiring state member banks to provide advance notification of planned or current crypto-asset activities. It also withdrew the 2023 supervisory nonobjection process for certain dollar-token activities, returning oversight of those activities to the normal supervisory process.
The shift materially changed the federal banking posture surrounding Bitcoin businesses and bank participation in digital-asset services. It did not give banks blanket permission to conduct any crypto activity, but it removed special procedural barriers that had treated the sector as requiring exceptional supervisory handling.