In a sign of the evolving times, Circle, the FinTech firm best known for the USDC stablecoin, unveiled Monday an initiative called the Circle Payments Network (CPN), which aims to modernize how value flows worldwide. While Circle is building out the CPN platform, it’s also part of a broader movement of crypto companies pushing into the regulated banking sector. If successful, a company like Circle could hold customer deposits, custody reserves for stablecoins, and make loans or offer other banking services, all under the supervision of bank regulators. By obtaining bank charters or trust licenses now, crypto companies could get ahead of impending regulations and shape them. Chartered institutions also have certain advantages. They can potentially get direct access to Federal Reserve payment systems, hold customer dollar balances in central bank accounts, and operate across all 50 states without needing a patchwork of state licenses. Separately, crypto companies like Paxos and Coinbase, as well as Circle, are pursuing bank charters, essentially seeking to become part of the very banking system that has historically kept them at arm’s length. It’s worth noting that not all these firms are pursuing the same type of charter. Circle and BitGo are reportedly aiming for full-service national bank charters. Others have considered national trust bank charters or even industrial loan company (ILC) charters.