Vast Bank becomes first US bank to allow buy/sell Bitcoin service

TL;DR Breakdown:

• Vast Bank has become the first federally chartered bank to offer customers the option to directly buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
• The supported cryptos are limited and cannot be withdrawn to exchanges or wallets in the meantime.

Buying cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin was quite challenging in the early years until exchanges stepped in. This barrier to mainstream adoption is only getting lower as more financial institutions are joining the crypto industry, including banks.

For the first time, a United States-based banking institution, Vast Bank, will provide customers the option to purchase, sell, and custody cryptocurrencies through their regular bank account. It’s worth noting that the bank in question holds a Federal Reserve Charter and FDIC insurance. Hence, Vast Bank has become the first federally chartered bank to roll out such a crypto service in the country.

Vast Bank debut crypto services

According to the report by Forbes, Vast Bank customers can now trade or custody digital currencies using their FDIC-insured checking account directly. However, the supported cryptos are limited to eight in number. These include Bitcoin, Ether, Cardano, Litecoin, Filecoin, Algorand, Bitcoin Cash, and Orchid. 

In the interview with Forbes, Vast Bank CEO Brad Scrivner said they are “familiar with regulation, we’re going to do the right things, we’re going to do things to make sure the financial system is kept safe and sound.” 

No crypto deposit and withdrawal yet

The new crypto service with Vast Bank was made possible following its partnership with the crypto exchange, Coinbase, and SAP. It will be available for the users as a ‘self-service’ capability. However, at the moment, users cannot deposit or withdraw digital assets, but the bank intends to enable these services in the future.

“Not yet. This is on our roadmap, and we are actively working on it. And I promised my team I wouldn’t give a timeframe on this – I’d love to give a time frame,” Scrivner told Forbes. 

The development today is a milestone for the crypto space and a step in the right direction to lower the entry barrier to cryptocurrency. This service best suits people have trust issues with crypto exchanges and would rather keep their funds with banks for safety purpose. More banking platforms are likely to follow suit in the future.