Crypto Startup Avanti Receives License To Operate as National Bank in Wyoming

Crypto startup Avanti Financial Group has been granted a license to offer banking services by the Wyoming State Banking Board.

The license, or bank charter, means Avanti can now operate as a conventional bank – but one with a twist, capable of holding both crypto and dollars. It plans to launch in 2021.

According to a statement published Oct. 28, the firm will also now be able to take custody of crypto assets like bitcoin while its plan for the creation of Avit, a tokenized US dollar, has been given the go ahead.

The company’s application for a bank charter was accepted in July, reports The Block. Avanti is the second crypto firm to become a bank after Kraken Financial, a unit of U.S. crypto exchange Kraken.

Avanti founder and chief executive officer, Caitlin Long, said “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 is a Wyoming special purpose depository institution like Avanti.”

Avanti plans to issue Avit initially on both Liquid – a sidechain of the Bitcoin blockchain – and Ethereum. The company claims its tokenized U.S. dollar is “designed to solve the legal, accounting and tax issues of stablecoins.”

As a bank, Avanti will be required to fully comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering and OFAC-related laws, rules and regulations.