Wall Street May Sue Over OCC’s Crypto Charter Wave: Report
A major U.S. banking lobby representing some of the country’s largest financial institutions is considering legal action against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) after the regulator granted trust bank charters to several cryptocurrency firms, a move critics say could expand crypto’s role in the financial system without subjecting firms to the same level of scrutiny faced by traditional banks.
According to a report published by The Guardian on Monday, the Bank Policy Institute is reviewing its legal options after the OCC moved ahead with conditional approvals for crypto-related trust charters despite objections raised by major banking groups.
The report cited a source familiar with the organization’s internal discussions, indicating that the group believes the regulator’s current interpretation of chartering authority may expose both consumers and the broader financial system to additional risk.
The dispute centers on a series of conditional national trust bank charters issued in recent months to digital asset firms seeking a stronger foothold inside the U.S. regulated financial system. In December, the OCC approved trust charter applications for BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Ripple and Paxos, allowing them to move closer to operating under federal trust banking frameworks.
The momentum continued into early 2026. Zerohash filed its own charter application on Feb. 27, while the OCC also issued conditional approvals in February to Crypto.com, Bridge and Stripe.
Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform linked to former U.S. President Donald Trump, also submitted an application in January as it seeks broader regulatory support for its USD1 stablecoin initiative. The firm is still awaiting a decision from the OCC.
Banking Sector Warns of Uneven Oversight
A national trust bank charter issued by the OCC allows companies to provide fiduciary services such as custody, trust administration and asset safekeeping under federal law. However, unlike full-service national banks, trust banks generally do not accept retail deposits or issue loans, creating a narrower regulatory structure that banking groups argue may leave important gaps if applied to crypto firms.
The Bank Policy Institute has long maintained that crypto firms operating under trust charters may avoid oversight standards applied to conventional banks while still gaining federal legitimacy. Its membership includes some of the largest financial institutions in the country, among them Goldman Sachs, American Express and JPMorgan Chase.
In October, the BPI publicly urged the OCC to reject charter applications from several crypto firms, including Ripple and Circle, arguing that granting federal trust status to digital asset businesses would create a lighter-touch regulatory path compared with what is required for traditional banking institutions.
Those concerns remain central to the latest legal discussions. Banking groups reportedly believe that crypto trust banks could introduce operational and liquidity risks into the wider financial sector if regulatory standards are not clearly aligned with those governing mainstream banks.
Legal Pressure Could Mirror Previous Banking Disputes
The BPI has not yet made a final decision on whether it will formally sue the OCC, and no court filing has been made so far. Still, the possibility would mark another major confrontation between banking trade groups and federal regulators.
The institute was previously part of a coalition that sued the Federal Reserve in late 2024 over its stress-testing methodology for major banks. That case was later paused after the Fed agreed to revisit parts of the framework.
