New Treasury initiative offers digital asset companies access to the same threat data as traditional financial institutions, as policymakers look to strengthen resilience and coordination across financial markets.
US digital asset firms will gain access to the same cybersecurity intelligence as banks under a new Treasury initiative aimed at strengthening industry resilience.
Announced on 9 April by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP), the programme will provide eligible digital asset firms with timely and actionable threat information to help identify, prevent and respond to cyber incidents.
The initiative extends intelligence-sharing capabilities that have traditionally been limited to banks and regulated financial institutions, reflecting the growing role of digital asset firms within the broader financial system.
Treasury officials said the move is intended to strengthen sector-wide resilience as cyber threats targeting digital asset platforms continue to increase in frequency and sophistication.
Luke Pettit, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, described the resilience of digital asset firms as “critical to the health of the broader system”, while Cory Wilson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity, said the initiative would help firms “strengthen defenses, reduce risk, and respond more effectively to incidents”.
Participating firms will receive access to the same threat intelligence used by banks to support real-time monitoring and incident response. While the Treasury has not publicly detailed eligibility requirements, similar arrangements in traditional finance typically involve expectations around information sharing and cooperation with authorities.
From recommendation to implementation
The programme aligns with recommendations set out in the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, which has called for greater coordination between digital asset firms and traditional financial institutions.
The report highlights the need for “greater information sharing… including… greater participation in sharing programmes by digital asset financial institutions and improved information sharing between digital asset and traditional financial institutions”.
It also points to structural challenges within the sector, noting that technical standards across digital asset infrastructure remain fragmented, leaving “key technical questions” around interoperability, cybersecurity and stability unresolved
By extending access to government-grade threat intelligence, the Treasury initiative can be seen as an attempt to address those gaps through shared operational frameworks, rather than standalone compliance requirements.
The report further underlines why preventative measures are prioritised, highlighting inherent risks in digital asset systems, including irreversible transactions and vulnerabilities in smart contract design, which can limit recourse once an incident occurs
Aligned with global direction of travel
The approach is broadly consistent with international regulatory guidance, where standard setters have increasingly emphasised the importance of information sharing and system-wide resilience.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), for example, has encouraged closer cooperation between virtual asset service providers and traditional financial institutions, particularly in the context of cross-border risk monitoring. Meanwhile, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) have highlighted the need for coordinated cybersecurity frameworks that extend across all participants in financial market infrastructure.
Taken together, these frameworks point towards a model in which digital asset firms are treated less as a distinct category and more as part of an integrated financial system, subject to similar expectations around operational resilience and risk management.
