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OCC says digital asset firms should have path to national bank charters

OCC says digital asset firms should have path to national bank charters

The regulator tied crypto-related applications to its push to revive de novo bank formation as several firms won conditional approval and a full-service national bank opened for the first time in five years.

Fact Check
The ChainCatcher report directly quotes OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould stating that firms engaged in legally permitted digital-asset and emerging-technology activities should have a path to national bank status and that the decade-long freeze on new bank charters has ended. This matches the claim almost verbatim. The DWT legal alert independently documents an ongoing wave of OCC national trust bank charter approvals for crypto firms, and the OCC's own NR 2026-47 confirms the agency is streamlining and reviving charter decisions. The claim is well-supported by multiple corroborating sources including a direct quote attributed to the OCC's Comptroller.
Summary

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said companies engaged in legally permissible digital asset activities should have a path to becoming national banks, tying that view to a broader campaign to revive de novo bank formation in the U.S. banking system. The agency said it received 40 de novo applications over the past 18 months, including national trust bank applications, and has ruled on some within 120 days after receiving a complete filing. It said full-service national bank Erebor Bank, N.A. has now received final approval and opened, the first such opening in five years, while Ripple, Circle, Crypto.com and Paxos have received conditional approval and Coinbase remains under review. Donald Trump-backed decentralized finance platform World Liberty Financial has also applied. The OCC said the push follows a steep decline in new chartering over the past 15 years and welcomed recent FDIC steps on deposit-insurance review. For crypto firms, a national trust bank or similar federal charter can provide a regulated framework for custody and settlement functions, though the opening has drawn opposition from banking groups that argue some applicants present governance and competitive concerns, particularly around stablecoins and deposit-like rewards.

Terms & Concepts
  • de novo bank formation: The process of creating a new bank from scratch rather than buying or converting an existing institution.
  • national trust bank: A federally chartered institution that can provide trust, custody and related services without necessarily operating as a full-service deposit-taking bank.
  • stablecoins: Digital tokens designed to maintain a fixed value, typically by being linked to a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar.