U.S. Bank Advises Clients to Drop These Cryptocurrencies

Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto custody bank, is urging its institutional clients to move away from major stablecoins like USDC, Agora USD (AUSD), and Usual USD (USD0), recommending instead a shift to the Global Dollar (USDG) — a stablecoin issued by Paxos and backed by a consortium that includes Anchorage itself.

The move, announced through Anchorage’s newly released “Stablecoin Security Matrix” report, has triggered widespread debate across the crypto industry, with critics accusing the bank of conflicted interests and misinformation.

“USDC, AUSD, and USD0 no longer meet Anchorage Digital’s long-term durability criteria,” said Rachel Anderika, Head of Global Operations at Anchorage. The report cites concerns over regulatory oversight, reserve transparency, and issuer concentration risks.

Anchorage’s scoring system gave USDC just 2 out of 5, highlighting that Circle holds approximately 15% of its reserves in cash across banks — a vulnerability spotlighted during the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in March 2023, which temporarily caused USDC to depeg below $1.

Industry Pushback and Allegations of Bias

The backlash came swiftly. Nick Van Eck, issuer of AUSD, accused Anchorage of spreading misinformation and failing to disclose its own financial ties to USDG.

“If this was just a business decision I could understand. But smearing USDC and AUSD with false claims is both frivolous and strange,” Van Eck stated.

The controversy arises amid mounting pressure for stablecoin regulation. The GENIUS Act, recently passed by the U.S. Senate, aims to establish strict compliance standards for issuers. If approved by the House, the legislation could become law by July.

While S&P Ratings recently gave USDC a “strong” score, and Bluechip assigned a B+ rating, Anchorage insists that future regulatory alignment and structural independence are critical for long-term viability.

“We will only support stablecoins that meet our standards of transparency, independence, and regulatory preparedness,” Anderika said.

Anchorage’s realignment strategy signals a deepening divide within the stablecoin sector, as regulatory clarity begins to reshape institutional preferences — and expose new fault lines.

Kosta Gushterov

Kosta has been working in the crypto industry for over 4 years. He strives to present different perspectives on a given topic and enjoys the sector for its transparency and dynamism. In his work, he focuses on balanced coverage of events and developments in the crypto space, providing information to his readers from a neutral perspective.