Digital Chamber Rebukes Warren Over OCC Crypto Charters

The Digital Chamber, a cryptocurrency industry advocacy group, sent a May 26 letter to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould responding to a May 18 letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren about OCC charter approvals.

In the letter, CEO Cody Carbone disputed Warren’s view that the OCC may have violated the National Bank Act by approving national trust charters for firms whose activities, she wrote, “appear to go far beyond the narrow set of activities permitted by law.” Carbone argued the firms voluntarily accepted federal oversight by applying for national trust charters, submitting to OCC examination authority and agreeing to compliance obligations.

“The claim that these firms seek to ‘evade’ regulations or pose risks to the safety and soundness of the banking system is contradicted by their own conduct,” Carbone wrote. He also asked Warren to identify the specific statutory boundary she believes the OCC crossed and offered to debate the legal question.

The OCC has approved or conditionally approved national trust charters for nine digital-asset firms, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, Ripple, Stripe, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, Protego Holdings and Paxos. The regulator continues to review other applications.

Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in her May 18 letter that the approvals suggest the firms “want to evade the fundamental safeguards and obligations that come with being a bank” and questioned whether political influence affected the decisions. She has previously raised concerns about conflicts of interest involving the White House and the crypto industry.

The OCC is weighing applications from World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm backed by members of the Trump family, and Payward, the parent company of the Kraken exchange, which has said it would offer fiduciary custody and other services for digital assets if approved. In January, Warren asked the OCC to delay review of World Liberty’s application until former President Trump divested from the platform. As of late May, the OCC listed 14 digital-asset companies that have submitted licensing applications.

Carbone urged regulators not to reverse approved charters due to political pressure. “The OCC shouldn’t retreat from a legally sound decision because of political pressure, regardless of who’s applying it,” he wrote. Warren’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Digital Chamber letter.