Now the United States can boast a new crypto bank: Welcome Avanti.
Avanti Financial Group, a firm founded by the former managing director at Morgan Stanley, Caitlin Long, announced that it had been granted a license to offer banking services by the Wyoming State Banking Board.
Avanti is The Second Crypto-bank Operating in the United States
With this decision, Avanti becomes the second crypto company to receive a banking license after the crypto exchange Kraken was also authorized by the Wyoming State Banking Board.
This license allows Avanti to offer financial services in the same way that a traditional bank would, only that these are in addition to the crypto services already provided by the platform.
According to Avanti, the application in the state of Wyoming was key to meeting its expectations —just like Kraken did— as it is the only state in the country that has a regulator with a bank supervisory and regulatory program for digital assets mature enough to ensure the operations of a banking platform that offers risk-free custody services.
Currently the only type of U.S. financial institution that can provide final and simultaneous settlement of trades between digital assets and the U.S. dollar-because it is the only type currently approved to handle both within the same legal entity-is a Wyoming special purpose depository institution like Avanti.
Avanti Financial Group Logo. Image: Avanti
Blockchain and Banking Working Together
Avanti said in a tweet that the first crypto product the company will launch will be a stablecoin pegged to the dollar and backed by physical deposits made to its bank accounts. The token will be called Avit and will be available for its customers in the first quarter of 2021.
AVANTI IS OFFICIALLY A BANK! Our charter & business plan were approved 8-0 today, incl. #Avit (a tokenized US dollar, which we announced we’ll issue initially on #Liquid (#Bitcoin sidechain) & #Ethereum. Open for commercial customers early Q1. More here:https://t.co/CgNazN08zV
Avanti revealed that Avit tokens will run on Ethereum – a critical blockchain for those seeking to take advantage of programmable smart contracts – and Liquid – a Bitcoin sidechain developed by Blockstream for those seeking to benefit from inter-exchange transfers for arbitrage operations.
Avanti had previously confirmed its collaboration with Blockstream to develop this token, explaining that it would not be like a normal crypto-currency and that it would be “just bank money that happens to be issued on a blockchain.” So it may look more like JPM Coin than the famous USDT.
Caitlin Long promised that Avanti “will provide products and services that do not exist in the market today. They did not refer to what they had in mind, so we can only hope.
