Crypto advocacy group defends OCC's charter approvals against bank lawsuit

Crypto trade group stands behind the OCC's charter decisions

The Crypto Council for Innovation, a group that promotes the crypto industry, has defended the US banking regulator's decision to approve national trust charters for several crypto companies. The group said a lawsuit filed by a community bank trade association is meant to slow down new payment services.

Speaking on Monday, CCI CEO Ji Hun Kim called the lawsuit a "clear attempt to resist national trust charters, payments innovation, and competition in financial services."

A national trust charter is a federal banking licence, but it does not come with the same duties as a full bank charter. The companies holding one are not insured deposits, which is the main reason community banks are objecting.

The dispute in brief

• Community banks, through the Independent Community Bankers of America, sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Friday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
• The lawsuit says the OCC granted US bank charters to entities, including crypto companies, without enough safeguards and without following the rules normally required of banks.
• The Crypto Council for Innovation backed the approvals and said it remains confident in the OCC's decisions.
• Some lawmakers have also criticised the approvals, saying exchanges want the credibility of a federal bank charter while avoiding bank obligations.

What the bank lobby says Congress did not allow

ICBA president and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said in a Friday statement that Congress did not create the national trust charter as a back door into the banking system. Her statement said crypto firms could seek the credibility of a federal bank charter without rules such as Community Reinvestment Act obligations, consolidated supervision, capital and liquidity standards, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance that apply to insured banks.

The Community Reinvestment Act is a US rule that requires banks to support lending in their communities. FDIC insurance protects bank deposits when a bank fails.

Which companies received approvals

Among the applications the OCC approved or conditionally approved during the administration of US President Donald Trump were those from World Liberty Financial, Circle, Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo and Paxos.

Many lawmakers focused their criticism on the World Liberty Financial approval, which was made under OCC head Jonathan Gould, a Trump appointee who has led the office since July 2025. Members of the Trump family co-founded World Liberty Financial, which has also been the target of investigations over alleged ties to the royal families of the United Arab Emirates.

What is settled and what is not

Confirmed by the sources: the ICBA filed a lawsuit on Friday in federal court in Washington, DC, targeting the OCC's charter approvals, and CCI publicly defended those approvals on Monday.

Not settled: the lawsuit's outcome. The supplied information does not say how the court has ruled, whether any of the charter approvals have been suspended, or whether the OCC has responded in court. CCI's view that the lawsuit is aimed at slowing innovation is the group's own position, not a finding by any court. The reported investigations into World Liberty Financial are allegations that have not been resolved in the material provided.

Why it matters

The fight decides what rules crypto companies must follow when they want to operate under a US banking licence. If the bank lobby succeeds, companies such as those that received approvals may face tighter requirements. If the approvals stand, firms can keep operating with lighter obligations than insured banks. For readers, the decision affects how custody, payments and other services are regulated in the US, not the price of any coin.

Sources

• Cointelegraph