Under Brooks’ leadership, the OCC began allowing banks to provide cryptocurrency custody services and store cryptographic keys in July 2020. And this January, the OCC first permitted banks to use stablecoins for payments.
We’ve seen Bitcoin hit multiple new all-time high prices, regulatory talks with potential to have big impact on the industry, and more institutional buy-in from major companies. All the while, people’s interest in crypto has skyrocketed this year: it’s a hot topic not only among investors but in popular culture too, thanks to everyone from long-standing investors like Elon Musk to that kid from your high school on Facebook.

However, investing in a crypto ETF, like BITO, still carries the same risk as any crypto investment. It’s still a speculative and volatile investment. If you’re not willing to lose the money you put into crypto by purchasing on an exchange, then you shouldn’t put it in a crypto fund either. Carefully consider if you’re willing to take on the risk of having cryptocurrency in your portfolio at all.
In the U.S., Binance has been the subject of an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is probing whether the platform allowed users to trade derivatives, Bloomberg reported in March, citing sources familiar with the matter. The CFTC investigation is directed at Binance, even though Americans must use Binance.US instead. And in May, the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service commenced money laundering investigations related to the company.