Crypto industry group defends OCC charter approvals for Ripple, Coinbase and peers in U.S.

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Crypto OCC charter approvals

Highlights

Digital Chamber defends OCC's charter approvals for Ripple, Coinbase, and peers, disputing Senator Warren's claim of National Bank Act violations.
The OCC conditionally approved Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos last year for trust bank charters, pending final authorization.
Trust bank charters would enable crypto firms to hold customer assets within the federal banking framework, intensifying tensions between crypto and traditional finance sectors.

Industry response to Warren's challenge

The Digital Chamber says in a Tuesday letter to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould that Senator Elizabeth Warren's criticism of recent national trust charter approvals misreads both the law and the regulator's authority. The group, which represents more than 250 crypto-related entities, argues that the OCC is acting within its longstanding chartering powers when it grants approvals to digital asset firms.

Warren wrote last week that approvals involving Ripple, Circle, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo and Coinbase violate the National Bank Act and do not hold crypto firms to the same standards as traditional banks. The Digital Chamber rejects that claim, with Chief Executive Cody Carbone saying the approvals are not "apparent violations" of the statute and that Warren is mischaracterizing the legal framework.

Carbone also argues that it would be inconsistent for Congress to establish a new category of federally regulated stablecoin issuer while the OCC declines to use its charter authority. His comments address Warren's contention that companies seeking a federal charter appear to be responding to the stablecoin law passed last summer, known as the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, or GENIUS, and that the new law does not alter the National Bank Act.

Charter stakes for crypto and finance

A growing number of crypto firms are seeking OCC approval to operate as federally regulated trust banks in the U.S. Last year, the OCC conditionally approved Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos, a step that could allow them to hold customer assets if they receive final approval.

Those trust bank charters would not let the companies accept cash deposits or make loans, but they would still mark a deeper formal link between crypto firms and the federal banking framework. The issue also highlights wider friction between traditional finance and the crypto sector over bank charter access and the treatment of stablecoin rewards, an area that has been a major sticking point in broader crypto legislation.

Our earlier analysis of Circle (CRCL) focused on the company’s USDC-driven Q1 momentum alongside persistent market volatility, with the stock trading below key moving averages. We noted Circle’s push to expand its payments and tokenized-asset infrastructure (including ARC development) as regulatory expectations rise for stablecoin issuers and integrated crypto platforms.

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