This news story in the Cowboy State Daily, Kraken: World’s First Digital Bank to Open in Wyoming, came to my attention this afternoon.  Wyoming granted Kraken a Special Purpose Depository Institutions Charter, a type of state bank charter enacted into Wyoming law in 2019.  The Kraken blog notes that “From paying bills and receiving salaries in cryptocurrency to incorporating digital assets into investment and trading portfolios, Kraken Financial will enable Kraken clients in the U.S. to bank seamlessly between digital assets and national currencies.”  Its “vision is to become the world’s trusted bridge between the crypto economy of the future and today’s existing financial ecosystem.”      

Not surprisingly, the banking law academic in me has lots of questions, and I’ll look forward to sharing some with BLPB readers when I’ve had more time to learn about this development.   

As a side note, in July 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) announced that “federally chartered banks and thrifts may provide custody services for crypto assets.”  The OCC charters national banks, and individual states grant state bank charters.