In February 2024, a symposium on tokenization will be held by the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a separate division of the U.S. Treasury Department that oversees national commercial banks in the nation.

A public discussion on the transformative potential of tokenizing actual financial assets and liabilities is expected to commence at the upcoming symposium. The emphasis of the event will be on laying the foundation for "responsible innovation."

Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu emphasizes the growing gap between cryptocurrency and the tokenization of real-world assets and liabilities in a press release:

“Crypto remains driven by the promise of speculative gains, continues to be marked by rampant scams, fraud, and hacks, and struggles to comply with anti-money laundering rules. By contrast, tokenization is driven by solving real-world settlement problems and can easily be developed in a safe and sound manner and fully compliant with anti-money laundering rules.”

Hyun Song Shin, an economic adviser and the head of research at the Bank for International Settlements, will deliver the keynote address at the symposium.

The legal foundations for tokens, tokenization use cases, risk management considerations, and economic research on tokenization will all be covered in panel discussions.

The OCC claims that it will broadcast the event live online and make the registration forms available later in 2023.

With its interpretive letters, the OCC has consistently warned banks against dealing with cryptocurrencies.

Starting in 2023, it issued a joint statement with two other bank regulatory agencies cautioning banks about potential risks linked to cryptocurrencies.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-vs-tokenization-us-office-of-comptroller

https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2023/nr-occ-2023-114.html

https://www.occ.gov/news-events/events/files/event-other-occ-symposium.html

https://www.occ.gov/topics/charters-and-licensing/interpretations-and-actions/2020/int1172.pdf