Vast Bank has become the first US bank with FDIC insurance and a Federal Reserve charter offering Bitcoin services.
Vast Bank customers can now buy and sell Bitcoin directly from a current account secured by the FDIC, while their Bitcoin custody solutions include a mobile trading platform with instant settlement in their accounts.
Vast’s revolutionary ability to buy, sell and hold Bitcoin within the bank comes after the Currency Controller’s Office (OCC) approved it and debated the issue with the Federal Reserve. Forbes reported.
Vast Bank CEO Brad Scrivner was involved in an interview with Forbes that a US bank is the best place to buy Bitcoin. “We are familiar with regulation, we will do the right things, we will do things to make sure the financial system stays healthy and savings,” he said.
Federally regulated banks could be used to bring Bitcoin to people who may not have the time or interest to learn how to keep Bitcoin. Scrivner commented: “There are many different clients who may want to control everything despite having their own portfolio, their own pass codes, and then there are those who are curious and may prefer to work with a bank or an intermediary, only because they don’t quite understand it ”.
During the interview, Scrivner attributed the change to offering Bitcoin as a way to meet current customer demands, but also as a way to stay relevant in anticipation of future demand.
Scrivner continued, “We also believe that technology has enabled the customer in a way that was not really enabled in the financial services industry and that cryptocurrency would be very detrimental to financial services.”
Vast first examined custody of the cryptocurrency in July 2020, after the OCC announced that, with a letter from the National Bank, the institution could safeguard Bitcoin and other cryptographic assets, Scrivner told Forbes. After that, both the Board and shareholders decided to “prioritize cryptography in our work”. According to Scrivner, a Gallup / inhouse survey at Vast showed that more than 60 percent of customers were interested in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but “they also say we want to have a bank involved with our cryptocurrency custody.”
Vast even pitched to shareholders about cases of using Bitcoin as cross-border payments with near-instantaneous final settlement and foreign exchange, according to Scrivner. The development comes in part after Vast partnered with Coinbase, which refers its customers to Vast about custody solutions.
Vast is also currently working to allow customers to deposit their Bitcoin into private wallets and exchanges with the bank.