Paxos Becomes Latest Crypto Firm to File for Federal Bank Charter
Paxos has filed to become a federally regulated bank with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, joining BitPay and Anchorage.
CEO Charles Cascarilla said the crypto firm, which already settles equities trades, hopes to apply for a clearing firm license soon.
The serial entrepreneur, payments veteran and pugnacious tweeter will focus on building Paxos' white-labeled stablecoin business.
Instinet and Credit Suisse helped hit the “T+0” settlement cycle for U.S. equities.
Paxos’ stablecoin tokens have mainly been playing catch-up since the DeFi spike in 2020.
Paxos has raised $142 million to facilitate mainstream adoption. “We think that opportunity is now,” said CEO Charles Cascarilla.
PayPal officially confirmed Wednesday it is entering the cryptocurrency market. The payments giant, with 346 million active accounts around the world, pledged to make crypto “a funding source for purchases at its 26 million merchants worldwide.”