With regulations coming into the crypto sector every day across various countries, numerous financial outfits have started to up their games regarding the services they offer. In what looks like another win for digital assets, Metal Pay, a crypto payment firm based in San Francisco, has announced that it has officially submitted its application to be recognized as a national bank charter.
According to the firm, the application was submitted to the Office of the Comptroller of Currency it would be able to offer crypto services and other related services. In a recent tweet that was cupped off Twitter, the outfit said it wants to be officially recognized as a national crypto bank following its application to the regulator.
The bank says unfair treatment forced the application
Even though everything is in line for the bank to achieve the national crypto bank status, it has been noted that achieving that feat is not what they are looking at for now. The financial outfit said that it was pushed to apply for this license because it had been receiving unfair treatment from all its financial partners over the years.
Most financial institutions are already choosing to go with the normal narrative, which has been going around for years, which said that crypto is only compatible with illicit and illegal affairs. Even though the usage of digital assets for illegal activities cannot be overemphasized, regulators and authorities have been able to arrest the growing number of atrocities in the last few years.
With some banks choosing to follow that narrative, they have stopped offering services to crypto exchanges and outfits that deal with trading crypto services. According to Metal Pay, it has seen banks treat it in that manner, and that is why it has chosen to take this bold step to become a financial institution itself.
Metal Pay says DeFi will start gaining mainstream adoption
Metal Pay also stressed that financial institutions did not share its vision to provide the unbanked with financial services. They have failed to recognize that crypto is gradually gaining mainstream attention. The bank noted that DeFi is now the future of the financial ecosystem, and the sector would make its way into mainstream adoption soon.
Even though many banks have applied to be recognized as a bank, why sets Metal Pays application apart from the others is that it wants to be recognized as a financial institution with a full banking license. According to a small part of the tweet that the firm sent out, they are interested in joining other registered and regulated legacy banks across the United States.
If the OCC officially grants its license, the bank would offer services in crypto through its FBB&T bank. Also, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation would be tasked with ensuring clients’ deposits, amongst all other things. The license will also see the bank set up operations in all 50 states across the United States. Anchorage was the first to be granted a conditional license by the OCC, with Bitpay also applying for a license towards the end of last year.