U.S. OCC charter approvals face scrutiny over crypto trust expansion

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OCC crypto charter scrutiny

Highlights

Warren challenged the OCC's approval of at least nine national trust charters for crypto firms since December 2025, citing legal and regulatory concerns.
The OCC has conditionally approved trust charters for Ripple, Circle, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo, Coinbase, and others, with several digital asset applications still under review.
Critics warn these charters could facilitate regulatory arbitrage, expose consumers to risks, and blur the lines between banking and commerce, prompting calls for stricter oversight.

Senate challenge to recent OCC approvals

As first reported by The Block, Warren said in a letter dated Monday, May 18, that Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould has been "improperly" granting national trust charters to companies she argues do not qualify under the National Bank Act.

Warren wrote that since December 2025 the OCC has approved at least nine national trust charters for crypto companies whose planned activities appear to extend beyond the narrow functions permitted by law. She said these firms are effectively seeking to operate as crypto banks while avoiding the core obligations and safeguards that apply to banks.

Her letter points to approvals involving Ripple, Circle, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo and Coinbase. At the end of last year, the OCC granted conditional approvals to an initial group of five firms that applied for the federal charter needed to become trust banks.

Circle's conditionally approved application is linked to a new entity called First National Digital Currency Bank. The OCC has also conditionally approved applications for Stripe unit Bridge, Coinbase, Crypto.com and others, while additional digital asset applications remain under review.

Banking and policy risks at stake

These charters do not permit firms to take FDIC-insured deposits or conduct traditional commercial lending. However, they may support companies operating stablecoin businesses under the GENIUS Act framework that was passed into law last summer.

Warren said the OCC's approach amounts to regulatory arbitrage and warned that it conflicts with federal law while creating risks for consumers, banking system safety and soundness, and the separation of banking and commerce. She also argued that many of the business plans do not spell out specific fiduciary trust activities and do not suggest such activities would be the trust companies' primary business.

The broader banking sector has also raised objections. In February, the American Bankers Association called on the OCC to slow its issuance of national bank charters to crypto firms, citing unresolved receivership risks and the absence of finalized federal oversight.

Warren is the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, giving her criticism added weight as crypto regulation and stablecoin supervision remain active issues in U.S. financial policy.

Our earlier coverage on Warren’s challenge to the OCC’s crypto charter approvals explained her claim that the agency has granted at least nine national trust charters since December 2025 to firms whose plans go beyond the National Bank Act’s limited trust powers. We noted her argument that these approvals enable regulatory arbitrage, letting companies operate like banks—especially around custody and stablecoin-related activities—without the full safeguards that apply to traditional banking. The article also highlighted her demand for the underlying applications, legal analyses, and related communications, requested by June 1, 2026.

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