The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently issued an explanatory letter confirming that national banks can participate in "risk-free principal" cryptocurrency trading. This allows banks to act as agents for cryptocurrency transactions without holding inventory or assuming market risk, a regulatory shift that will have a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market. JPMorgan Chase is currently exploring providing cryptocurrency trading services to institutional investors, marking a move from the experimental stage to the implementation stage for Wall Street banks in the cryptocurrency space. Leveraging its regulatory legitimacy and customer trust, JPMorgan Chase is expected to absorb a significant portion of retail order flow, particularly posing competitive pressure on independent cryptocurrency exchanges without banking licenses. (CoinDesk)