Community bankers sue OCC over crypto trust bank charters
The Independent Community Bankers of America has filed a federal lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, seeking to overturn rules allowing cryptocurrency firms to secure national trust bank charters.
The Independent Community Bankers of America filed a lawsuit on Oct. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Comptroller Jonathan Gould. The trade group contends that the regulator exceeded its statutory authority under the National Bank Act by letting digital asset companies obtain national trust bank charters even though they neither accept deposits nor operate primarily as fiduciaries.[1][7][5]
Brought under the Administrative Procedure Act, the complaint asks the court to vacate the OCC's final chartering rule published in March 2026, its January 2021 Interpretive Letter 1176, and a conditional charter granted to Protego in February 2026. ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey argued that Congress did not establish national trust charters as a side door into the banking system, noting that crypto trust banks bypass deposit insurance, Community Reinvestment Act rules, and holding company supervision. The complaint also stated that two community banks with assets under $2.5 billion have each lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in business to crypto companies operating under conditional OCC approvals.[1][2][3][4][6]
According to the ICBA, the OCC has granted full or conditional approval to 21 trust banks during the Trump administration, with at least 13 tied to crypto firms, including Circle, Coinbase, and Crypto.com. The OCC declined to comment on the litigation. However, the agency defended its chartering rule by asserting that national trust banks have longstanding authority to conduct non-fiduciary activities alongside fiduciary responsibilities, highlighting that existing trust banks oversee nearly $2 trillion in assets under custody or safekeeping.[1][3][7]
Key facts
- The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould in federal court on Oct. 2, 2026.
- The lawsuit asks the court to set aside the OCC's March 2026 national trust bank rule, its January 2021 Interpretive Letter 1176, and Protego's conditional charter.
- The ICBA reported that the OCC has approved or conditionally approved 21 trust banks during the Trump administration, with at least 13 connected to cryptocurrency.
- The complaint alleges that two ICBA member banks with under $2.5 billion in assets each lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in business to conditionally approved crypto firms this year.
- The OCC noted in its final rule that existing national trust banks hold close to $2 trillion in assets under custody or safekeeping.
- The OCC declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing its policy against commenting on active litigation.
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UnchainedArticle ·
Community Bankers Sue Federal Bank Regulator to Overturn Crypto Trust Charter Rule The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has taken the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to federal court , arguing the bank regulator broke the law by letting crypto firms that neither take deposits nor act mainly as fiduciaries become national trust banks. Filed Oct. 2 in the District of Columbia’s federal district court, the complaint names the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould as defendants. By ICBA’s count, the OCC has granted full or conditional approval to 21 trust banks during the Trump administration, and at least 13 of them are crypto companies. “The OCC’s decision to allow companies to obtain national trust bank charters to conduct substantial non-fiduciary activities exceeds the authority Congress granted the agency,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said in a statement . Get Unchained’s crypto news in your inbox with the free Unchained Daily newsletter . What ICBA Wants Vacated The suit, brought under the Administrative Procedure Act , asks the court to declare unlawful and set aside three OCC actions: its National Bank Chartering final rule, published March 2, 2026; Interpretive Letter 1176 , issued in January 2021; and the conditional charter the agency granted digital asset firm Protego in February 2026. ICBA also wants the OCC barred from using the rule or the letter to approve any other charter. In ICBA’s reading of the National Bank Act, the OCC can charter only deposit-taking banks, bankers’ banks that serve other banks, and trust banks confined to fiduciary work. Crypto trust banks fit none of those, the group argues, yet they skip deposit insurance, Community Reinvestment Act duties and holding company supervision while their federal charters preempt many state consumer protection laws. ICBA calls the result a “gaping hole in financial regulation.” Romero Rainey said Americans assume a bank with a federal charter comes with federal protections. “Digital assets held at a crypto firm operating under a national trust charter do not carry those important safeguards,” she said. The complaint says two member banks with under $2.5 billion in assets apiece have each already lost business worth hundreds of thousands of dollars this year to crypto firms holding conditional OCC approval. It also says Protego’s first conditional approval, granted in 2021, expired in 2023, the same year the company cut more than half its staff. The OCC’s Position In the final rule itself, the OCC described its change as clarifying “the longstanding authority” of national trust banks to conduct non-fiduciary activities alongside fiduciary ones. Because Congress used different words in different provisions, the agency wrote, trust and fiduciary “must mean different things in the federal banking statutes.” The agency also noted that existing national trust banks already have close to $2 trillion in assets under custody or safekeeping. Crypto companies that have pursued the charters include Circle, which won final approval for its national trust bank in July. ICBA has also pushed back on crypto in Congress, joining other bank groups in urging senators to tighten stablecoin yield limits in the CLARITY Act, which stalled in a Senate procedural vote last month. Related Listen: DEX in the City: Why the Supreme Court’s FTC Ruling Could Rewire Crypto Regulation The post Community Bankers Sue Federal Bank Regulator to Overturn Crypto Trust Charter Rule appeared first on Unchained .
Open source - DE
DecryptArticle ·
Banking Group Sues to Block Crypto's 'Side Door' Into the Banking System The Independent Community Bankers of America argues the OCC's national trust charters give crypto firms a "side door into the banking system" without the safeguards that bind traditional banks.
Open source - CB
Coin Bureau@coinbureauPost on X ·
🇺🇸JUST IN: The bank lobby that fought the CLARITY Act is now SUING to stop crypto firms from getting federal trust bank charters. The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC, arguing it has no legal authority to grant national trust charters to crypto firms. "Congress did not create the national trust charter as a side door into the banking system for crypto firms," says ICBA CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey. The OCC has cleared trust charters for crypto firms including Coinbase, Circle and Crypto(.)com, as well as Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. The OCC says it does not comment on litigation.
Open source - CO
Cointelegraph@CointelegraphPost on X ·
🚨 BIG: ICBA is suing the OCC over national trust bank charters for crypto firms, arguing they bypass banking safeguards applied to traditional banks. https://t.co/w65XOQIxV7
Open source - WM
WSJ Markets@WSJmarketsPost on X ·
Community bankers sued the Trump administration on Friday after regulators moved to grant bank charters to a wave of cryptocurrency companies, the latest chapter in a fight between traditional banking and crypto https://t.co/JkNAeBMSGQ
Open source - CN
crypto.news@cryptodotnewsPost on X ·
JUST IN: ICBA sues OCC over crypto trust bank charters The banking group argues the charters let crypto firms bypass safeguards and requirements that apply to traditional banks. https://t.co/4Qw632wy9W
Open source - CR
CryptoSlateArticle ·
Bankers sue to overturn OCC trust-bank rule used by crypto firms The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC in federal court in Washington on Oct. 2, two weeks after the agency approved Agora National Trust Bank, Catena Trust Bank and Bastion Platforms. American Banker reported that the complaint asked the court to vacate the OCC's national trust bank rule and Interpretive Letter 1176. It argued the agency exceeded its authority by widening limited-purpose trust charters for fintech and crypto firms. ICBA says the OCC has approved or conditionally approved 21 trust banks , 13 of them tied to crypto. Banks lost the applicant-by-applicant fight against crypto firms Banking groups objected company by company, and the OCC kept approving . Five crypto-linked national trust applications, including BitGo , Fidelity Digital Assets, First National Digital Currency Bank, Paxos and Ripple -linked applicants, won decisions in December 2025. Bridge, National Digital Trust and Foris DAX, the parent of Crypto.com , followed in February, Coinbase in April and Laser Digital in May. Agora, Catena and Bastion arrived Sept. 18 , and several of these approvals are conditional or preliminary. The OCC finalized its national trust bank rule in February, effective April 1. It replaced the phrase “fiduciary activities” with the statute's broader wording, “the operations of a trust company and activities related thereto.” The OCC says the language leaves its chartering authority intact and that national trust banks have long performed some nonfiduciary work, including custody. It points to 12 U.S.C. 24(Seventh) as authority for nonfiduciary custody and related activities. ICBA's complaint reads the same rule as stretching a limited-purpose trust charter to cover non-depository, non-fiduciary crypto businesses under a lighter framework than insured banks face. An objection to Coinbase or Ripple asks the agency to deny one applicant. A suit over the rule asks a judge to decide the scope of authority behind every charter that relies on it. The OCC said a court would decide In the February rule, the OCC cited the Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision. It said that when a party with standing disputes whether the National Bank Act authorizes a national trust bank charter, courts must exercise independent judgment on the statutory question. That is the review ICBA now requests. The OCC spent 2026 approving crypto trust charters while on record that a court would settle their legal basis. Exposure varies with business plan, with plain fiduciary custody furthest from the dispute and nonfiduciary custody, stablecoin issuance and reserves, payments, settlement, conversion, and execution nearest to it. Coinbase's approved plan covers digital asset custody as a fiduciary plus transactional services tied to custodied assets, and the OCC defended it as trust-company operations or related activities under fiduciary authority and 24(Seventh). Related Reading Washington has started selecting which crypto firms control custody at a national level Agora plans dollar-backed stablecoin issuance, reserve maintenance, nonfiduciary custody, and payment and settlement services. Catena combines custody, investment management, and trust services with conversion, clearing, and execution, and Bastion offers white-label stablecoin issuance, custodial wallets, conversion, and issuer services. Foris DAX's plan couples custody with trade settlement and staking, and Bridge's initial approval covers custody, stablecoin issuance and orchestration, and reserve management. ICBA seeks vacatur plus declaratory and injunctive relief. What happens to existing charters depends on the order a judge writes, including how it treats final approvals, conditional approvals and activities with independent statutory support. The OCC said in August that it had received 40 de novo charter applications over about 18 months, and Comptroller Jonathan Gould said 23 of them involved digital assets. The agency's digital-asset licensing page lists pending applicants, including zerohash, Dakota National Trust Bank, Payward (Kraken), Lorum National Trust Bank, EDX Trust and PAYO Digital Bank. Whether the OCC keeps processing those applications on the same terms while the court weighs the rule is the open question for each of them. Where the court crypto test leads If the court sides with the OCC, the national trust bank becomes a firmer federal route for crypto custody and stablecoin infrastructure. JPMorgan sees $500 billion by 2028, Coinbase's model centers on $1.2 trillion by the end of 2028, and Standard Chartered expects $2 trillion by then. Citi's 2030 cases run from $1.9 trillion in its base scenario to $4 trillion in its most optimistic one. FDIC-insured banks held about $20.7 trillion in deposits in the second quarter, so $500 billion to $2 trillion equals roughly 2.4% to 9.7% of that base. For Bitcoin, a win would deepen bank-supervised custody and settlement-linked services for institutions. If the court vacates or narrows the rule or the letter, the effect lands hardest on plans built around stablecoin issuance, reserves, nonfiduciary custody, conversion, payments and settlement. Those firms might restructure activities into affiliates, state trust companies or partner-bank arrangements, and pending charters could face tougher review. Bitcoin custody itself could stay available, with the federal wrapper less flexible around adjacent services such as conversion, execution, settlement, staking-like services and collateral movement. The San Francisco Fed estimates stablecoin issuers' Treasury demand could roughly double to about $400 billion by 2030, which gives the answer weight beyond crypto. How much nonfiduciary market infrastructure can sit inside a national trust bank is now a question for a federal judge, which is where the OCC said it would land. The post Bankers sue to overturn OCC trust-bank rule used by crypto firms appeared first on CryptoSlate .
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