Warren: OCC illegally approved crypto trust charters

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency illegally approved national trust bank charters for several crypto firms, arguing the approvals allow the companies to operate like banks while avoiding core banking safeguards and violate the National Bank Act.

In a letter to Comptroller Jonathan Gould, the senator requested detailed records about the approvals and asked whether national trust companies may engage in non‑fiduciary activities. Warren said the charters pose “serious risks” to the safety and soundness of the U.S. banking system and that the approved firms “look like crypto banks, not trust companies.”

Warren noted the OCC has approved nine national trust charters for crypto‑focused firms and affiliates since President Donald Trump returned to office last year. The firms she named include Coinbase, Circle, Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, Fidelity, Crypto.com, Stripe and Protego.

National trust companies typically provide fiduciary services, such as managing assets on behalf of clients, and are generally not authorized to accept customer deposits. Warren wrote that several approved business plans include language suggesting non‑fiduciary custodial services, facilitation of payments and lending, and stablecoin activities closely tied to deposit‑taking.

Warren linked the surge in charter applications to last year’s passage of a stablecoin bill she referenced as the GENIUS Act, noting crypto firms have sought trust charters to issue, custody and redeem stablecoins. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies usually pegged to the U.S. dollar and often require custody of the funds that back them.

The senator also asked the OCC to provide copies of all correspondence between OCC officials and President Trump, his family and his associates that relate to crypto trust applications. Warren and Gould clashed at a Senate hearing in February when she pressed him about a pending application from World Liberty Financial, a crypto company tied to the Trump family. Gould declined to say whether he would delay or deny that application, and Warren accused him of being “an accomplice” to the president’s alleged corruption.

Separately, Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, filed for a national trust charter and described the proposed Payward National Trust Company as a federally regulated qualified custodian for institutional digital asset custody. World Liberty co‑founder Zach Witkoff said at a recent event that his company was in the final stages of receiving conditional approval from the OCC.

Warren has sought granular documentation to show how the OCC evaluated the charter applications and whether the regulator permitted national trust companies to perform bank‑like activities. The OCC has not publicly rescinded the approvals cited in her letter.