Caitlin Long is the founder and CEO of Custodia Bank and is known for playing a key role in advancing blockchain and crypto-friendly regulations in her home state of Wyoming, USA.
Personal history
Caitlin Long was born and raised in Wyoming by parents involved in academia and education, laying the ground for Long’s academic endeavors. In 1990, she graduated with her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the University of Wyoming. She went on to study Trade and Finance at Harvard Kennedy School and obtained a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard Law in 1994.
Pre-crypto career
Before making a professional entry into cryptocurrency, Caitlin Long had a 22-year career in Wall Street finance. She joined Salomon Brothers as an associate in 1994 and in 1997 went on to work at Credit Suisse as a Managing Director, a role she held for the next decade. She then spent nine years at Morgan Stanley between 2007 and 2016, holding the roles of Head of Corporate Strategies and Head of Group Pension Solutions.
In 2016, she left to pursue a full-time career in crypto.
Role in the crypto community
Caitlin Long first became involved in Bitcoin in 2012 and has become a leading figure in crypto due to her ongoing efforts to advance the integration between digital assets and the traditional banking system. She stated that in the years before she left Morgan Stanley, she attended Bitcoin conferences and events to learn about crypto during her evenings and weekends.
After leaving Wall Street in 2016, she joined Symbiont, a smart contract platform that developed blockchain solutions for the financial sector, where she stayed until 2018. The company would go on to secure partnerships with high-profile financial firms, including Vanguard and State Street, before going bankrupt in 2022.
Role in Wyoming state blockchain regulations
In 2017, Long co-founded the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, an organization dedicated to furthering the cause of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and providing knowledge resources to the local and global community.
In 2018, following her departure from Symbiont, she became a gubernatorial appointee to the Wyoming Blockchain Task Force, a formal role in the State of Wyoming legislature. There, Long helped enact twenty blockchain laws, playing a leading role in making Wyoming a blockchain hub when many crypto firms were finding it difficult to do business in the US. Among other changes, the new laws enabled on-chain assets to be treated as legal property and paved the way for banks to operate under dedicated rules designed for crypto and digital assets. They allowed for a type of bank called a Special Purpose Depositary Institution (SPDI), which enables banks to custody crypto assets on behalf of clients.
Long left her gubernatorial role in November 2019 to found Custodia Bank.
Custodia Bank
Caitlin Long founded Custodia Bank under the name Avanti Bank & Trust in 2020, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In October 2020, the bank was formally granted an SPDI bank charter by the State Banking Board in a unanimous vote. According to the charter, Avanti Bank intended to offer products and services related to blockchain, including a programmable stablecoin, digital asset custody, and online banking and prime brokerage services.
Between 2020 and 2024, Custodia Bank raised $51 million in VC funding.
Challenges in obtaining a federal banking license
At the same time as it was obtaining its state banking license, Custodia applied to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for membership in the banking system, including a master account that would allow it to access the services of the Federal Reserve. This is an essential requirement for the company to participate in the federal network for payments, clearing, and settlements. The alternative amounts to a bank which itself is unbanked.
In 2021, the Federal Reserve delayed Custodia’s application while it also issued new guidance regarding the types of institutions that are eligible for master accounts. Following the new rules, Custodia had to apply for federal deposit insurance to continue with its application. However, in 2022, when the Fed still had not provided an outcome to the application, Custodia filed to sue, arguing that it is obliged to grant master accounts.
Following the collapse of FTX in late 2022, US banking regulators, including the Federal Reserve, issued resolutions that included warning established banks against doing business with firms offering cryptocurrency-related services. Subsequently, many crypto firms reported challenges obtaining banking services, and the application Custodia Bank had filed for a Federal Reserve master account was eventually declined in 2023.
Although Custodia Bank struggled to continue without access to a master account, the bank is still doing business, using other banks to access the Federal Reserve payment network. Custodia has continued to fight for its banking license, attempting to overturn the Fed’s decision through legal means. In April 2024, federal judges upheld the decision, which Custodia appealed.
In August 2024, Custodia announced it was cutting 25 percent of its 36-employee workforce in a bid to preserve capital.
As of January 2025, the Custodia case remains with the appeals court to determine whether the bank should receive approval from the Fed.
Caitlin Long essentials
- Caitlin Long is a Wall Street veteran who has played a leading role in the ongoing battle with US regulators to allow crypto firms to participate in the banking system.
- She served on the State of Wyoming legislature in 2018 and 2019, supporting the passage of twenty blockchain-related state laws during her tenure.
- Long also founded Custodia Bank in 2019 with a view to supporting crypto banking services; however, the company has spent four years locked in an ongoing legal dispute with the Federal Reserve over its access to the federal banking system.