Fed and FDIC Crypto Guidance for Banks, Issued and Withdrawn

In January 2023 the Fed, FDIC and OCC jointly said that issuing or holding as principal crypto-assets on “an open, public, and/or decentralized network” was “highly likely to be inconsistent with safe and sound banking practices”.¹² A crypto-asset, in the statement’s words, is “any digital asset implemented using cryptographic techniques”. A second joint statement in February warned that deposits from crypto firms could leave banks suddenly.¹⁰ The Fed and FDIC withdrew both on April 24, 2025, joining the OCC, which had already withdrawn.⁸

In 2022 both agencies told the banks they supervise to notify them before starting any crypto activity. The FDIC did so in April with FIL-16-2022¹⁴ and the Fed in August with SR 22-6.¹³ The FDIC rescinded its letter on March 28, 2025, saying banks “may engage in permissible crypto-related activities without receiving prior FDIC approval”.⁴ The Fed withdrew SR 22-6 on April 24, 2025.⁸

The FDIC’s replacement letter lists what it counts as crypto-related activity: acting as a custodian, keeping stablecoin reserves, issuing digital assets, making markets, and taking part in blockchain-based payment systems, “including performing node functions”.⁴ Seven weeks earlier, on February 5, 2025, the FDIC had published 175 documents on its supervision of banks’ crypto activities. That followed its earlier release of 25 so-called “pause” letters sent to 24 banks.¹⁷

Section 9(13) of the Federal Reserve Act lets the Fed limit what state member banks (state-chartered banks that join the Federal Reserve System) may do. In January 2023 the Fed said it would presumptively prohibit them from holding most crypto-assets as principal, while still allowing crypto custody.¹⁸¹¹ It withdrew that statement on December 17, 2025, and replaced it with one that “creates an avenue” for state member banks to engage in certain innovative activities.² Its staff memo noted that most of the Board’s 2022–2023 crypto issuances “have been rescinded or withdrawn”.¹⁹

SR 23-7 set up the Fed’s Novel Activities Supervision Program for banks’ crypto, distributed-ledger and fintech-partnership activities.⁷ A companion letter, SR 23-8, required state member banks to get written “supervisory nonobjection” before issuing or transacting in dollar tokens (stablecoins).⁹ The Fed withdrew SR 23-8 in April 2025⁸ and ended the program on August 15, 2025, moving those activities “back into the standard supervisory process”.⁶

Strictly an SEC accounting view, not banking guidance, SAB 121 told companies that hold crypto for customers to record a liability on their balance sheet for that obligation.¹⁵ SAB 122 rescinded it in January 2025, effective January 30. Companies now decide under ordinary loss-contingency accounting whether to record a liability.⁵

The two newest joint documents describe how existing rules apply rather than adding new ones. The July 2025 statement on crypto-asset safekeeping “does not create any new supervisory expectations”.³ The March 2026 FAQ says an eligible tokenized security “should generally receive the same capital treatment” as the non-tokenized security.¹