Senate Banking Committee presses OCC over crypto trust charter approvals

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Senate questions OCC crypto charters

Highlights

Warren alleges the OCC has approved at least nine national trust charters for crypto firms since December 2025, claiming they exceed the narrow limitations of the National Bank Act.
She asserts the approved firms resemble crypto banks more than trust companies, planning non-fiduciary custodial and stablecoin activities typically associated with deposit-taking.
Warren requests by June 1, 2026, all charter applications, legal analyses, and related OCC communications, asserting the approvals facilitate regulatory arbitrage and pose systemic risk.

Concerns over charter approvals and legal scope

As reported by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Warren sent a letter to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould arguing that the OCC is improperly granting national trust charters to companies that do not qualify under the National Bank Act. She says the approvals weaken protections meant to shield Americans from financial risk.

In the letter, Warren says that since December 2025 the OCC has approved at least nine national trust charters for crypto companies whose planned activities appear to go beyond the narrow functions permitted by law. She argues these firms are effectively crypto banks seeking to avoid the core safeguards and obligations that come with bank status.

Warren also says several more applications are pending and contends the approved companies look more like crypto banks than trust companies. According to her letter, many of the business plans do not include specific fiduciary trust activities and do not suggest that bona fide fiduciary trust work would be the primary business of the chartered entities.

Consumer and banking system risks in focus

Warren says the business plans instead indicate intentions to conduct non-fiduciary custodial services, facilitate payments and lending, and undertake stablecoin activities that are closely related to deposit-taking. She argues that this creates legal and regulatory concerns around the separation of banking and commerce.

The senator says the OCC's actions pose risks to consumers and to the safety and soundness of the banking system. She also describes the approvals as a form of regulatory arbitrage that conflicts with federal law.

Warren concludes her letter by requesting the full charter applications for all nine approved companies, the legal analyses supporting the OCC's decisions, and all communications between OCC officials and the White House or Trump family members regarding the approvals. She asks for the materials by June 1, 2026.

Our earlier article on Goldman Sachs’ digital-asset ETF repositioning described how the bank reshuffled its holdings in Q1 2026, exiting XRP and Solana ETFs and sharply cutting Ethereum exposure while keeping a large allocation to Bitcoin ETFs. We noted the move as a sign of growing institutional selectivity in crypto exposure, with Bitcoin increasingly favored amid shifting market and regulatory conditions.

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