Ex-Wall Street Executive Caitlin Long Establishes First Crypto Focused Bank in the US

Ex-Wall Street executive Caitlin Long, who assisted Wyoming pass blockchain adoption laws, seems to be capitalizing on the forward looking Wyoming legislature to set up the first crypto-focused bank in the US. The bank has been named Avanti, meaning “forward” in Italian.

Through a series of tweets, Long divulged the news to her followers. She trust that “a critical piece of U.S. market infrastructure is missing – a regulated bank that can act as a bridge to the Federal Reserve for payments and [offer] custody for BIG institutional money.”

Long conveyed her thanks to Wyoming governor Mark Gordon for assisting in turning her dreams into a reality, as Avanti leverages on the adhoc depository institution rule “which is the optimal regulatory-compliant structure in the U.S. for providing financial services around crypto.”

Long has pointed out that the adhoc depository law has strict regulatory provisions. As per the law, all deposits (crypto in case of Avanti), must be kept as reserves.

Avanti is also forbid to use deposits for any of its financial needs, a process commonly referred to as “rehypothecation.”

Furthermore, stringent KYC (know your customer) standard must be followed. Long cautions clients that its services should never be used for illegal purposes. In this regard, she has issued the following lengthy tweet.

“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT trying to use Avanti for illegal/nefarious purposes!!!!!!!!!.”

Before setting up Avanti, Long had numerous lengthy interactions with Adam Back, CEO and founder of Blockstream and early benefactor of Bitcoin. Long trusts that Blockstream is an “ideal partner for serving BIG institutional investors that require regulated banks to deliver them services around bitcoin in USD markets.”

She, however, clarified that Avanti will remain “protocol neutral” and will support all cryptos as per clients request.

As per Long, we can anticipate to see:

“STRANGE BEDFELLOWS because it’ll attract the best from the crypto & traditional worlds. I’m comfortable + have deep relationships in both worlds & I am equally comfy in NYC’s concrete canyons as in the wilds of Wyoming.”

Long anticipates Avanti to start accepting clients by early next year. If Long’s prediction goes true then the crypto market may see fresh liquidity being injected.