Vast Bank’s Bitcoin Move Shows Traditional Banks Are Becoming Serious With The Cryptocurrency Market

Bitcoin is an investment vehicle that more people are looking to get into, and the traditional banks are not missing sight of this fact.

Vast Bank Starts Offering Bitcoin Buying And Custody Services

The past few months have been characterized by the institutional adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Institutional investors have started seeing the value that Bitcoin holds and are seeking more ways to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency market.

However, traditional banks have been slow to catch up with the train as many are still skeptical of the cryptocurrency space. The mood is changing, though, as an increasing number of traditional banks are starting to warm up to Bitcoin.

Yesterday, Vast Bank became the first chartered bank in the United States to start offering Bitcoin services to its clients. The CEO of the bank, Brad Scrivner, revealed this information to Forbes during an exclusive interview.

Vast Bank customers can now buy and sell Bitcoin directly. In the process, Vast Bank becomes the first bank in the United States with FDIC insurance and a Federal Reserve charter to offer such services to its clients. The customers can buy and sell BTC directly from an FDIC-insured checking account, and Vast Bank’s Bitcoin custody solution has a mobile trading platform to allow users to make instant settlements to the account.

The chartered bank is able to launch this service after gaining approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and also discussing its steps with the Federal Reserve.

More Traditional Banks Could Soon Enter The Crypto Space

Vast Bank’s entry into the Bitcoin purchase and custody market could convince more traditional banks to start offering similar services. According to Vast Bank’s CEO, the move was prompted by an increase in demand for Bitcoin from its customers.

BTC is currently trading above $50k per coin after going up by less than 1% in the past 24 hours. The leading cryptocurrency is still some way off its all-time high above $64k but is up by over 60% since it dropped below $30k a few weeks ago.