US banks urge OCC to slow crypto-linked trust charters

Traditional banks and crypto firms are racing toward the same prize: a clearer path into federally regulated finance. For crypto companies, an OCC trust charter can mean national licensing and the ability to settle activity in a more direct, supervised way. For banks, it raises a familiar worry that new entrants will get the benefits of the system faster than the guardrails around them are finished.

That tension sharpened this week after the American Bankers Association sent a comment letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency calling on the agency to slow its charter decisioning process while stablecoin and digital-asset frameworks remain in flux.

A major point in the letter was the OCC’s recent approach of conditioning approvals on compliance with the GENIUS Act, even though full implementation would still require multiple agencies to complete their own rulemakings. The ABA urged the OCC to be patient and to let each applicant’s regulatory responsibilities “come fully into view” before moving an application forward.

The group’s warning lands as more crypto firms try to formalize their banking footprint. Applicants and conditional charter holders have included firms such as Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Paxos and Coinbase — whose broader regulatory positioning is examined in our Coinbase review — along with Nomura-backed Laser Digital, which has described a trust-bank structure as a familiar, regulated wrapper for institutional crypto services in a recent Laser Digital filing. 

Beyond timing, the ABA argued the OCC should be confident it can unwind a failed crypto-focused institution without surprises. The letter pointed to the 2022 collapses of FTX and Celsius as examples of business models that can break in ways regulators may not be set up to manage, and it asked the OCC to ensure its receivership tools are adequate for any new charter entrants.

The debate also overlaps with a wider push by banks to keep crypto’s access to core rails tightly scoped. In recent weeks, banking groups have criticized the Federal Reserve’s prototype payment account as a back door to direct Fed settlement for nonbanks, and community bankers have pushed Congress to tighten stablecoin “reward” structures they say mimic interest via affiliates under the GENIUS Act.

For now, the ABA is asking the OCC to treat crypto-linked charters as policy decisions, not routine paperwork. Whether the regulator slows down will help determine how quickly crypto firms can move from partnering with banks to operating closer to the banking system’s core.