US banking lobby weighs lawsuit against OCC over crypto trust bank charters

A banking lobby group in the United States is considering legal action against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over the agency granting national trust bank charters to crypto firms.

An unnamed source familiar with “the lobby’s thinking” has informed The Guardian that the Bank Policy Institute is planning to sue the OCC for ignoring earlier warnings from banking groups and state regulators and moving ahead with its reinterpretation of federal licensing rules to grant national trust bank charters to crypto firms. According to the group, this could potentially put Americans and the financial system at risk.

Under the leadership of Jonathan Gould, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, the OCC granted the first batch of conditional national trust bank charter approvals to crypto firms, including Ripple, BitGo, and Paxos, among others. Since then, several other firms have pursued similar approvals.

Once approved, the national trust bank charter will allow these companies to operate as trust banks and offer custody and asset safekeeping services.

In October, the BPI issued a statement urging the OCC to reject applications from crypto firms, including Ripple and Circle, as it argues that granting such charters could put the financial system at risk.

“BPI cautions that endorsing this pathway and allowing firms to choose a lighter regulatory touch while offering bank-like products could blur the statutory boundary of what it means to be a “bank,” heighten systemic risk and undermine the credibility of the national banking charter itself,” it said at the time.

According to The Guardian, the BPI has yet to decide whether it intends to pursue legal action against the OCC. However, the report noted that the BPI was among a group of banks that had previously taken legal action against the Federal Reserve in late 2024 over its stress testing framework, which the central bank later agreed to reconsider.

Similar warnings over the OCC’s crypto charter approvals have been issued by the Independent Community Bankers of America, which represents thousands of small lenders. Most recently, the ICBA urged the OCC to pull or change its proposal for issuing licenses to crypto firms.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Trump-linked World Liberty Financial applied for a charter in January, and the move has drawn a lot of scrutiny from Senator Elizabeth Warren over potential conflicts of interest.

However, during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Gould said that the agency would continue to process the application.