The Bank Policy Institute, representing JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, has hired external legal counsel to consider a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) over the issuance of national trust bank charters to crypto companies. No formal lawsuit has been filed yet. This ongoing legal pressure influences the future of crypto banking charters in the US.
Background and Details of the Legal Challenge
The catalyst for this move was the approval of conditional trust bank charters granted in December 2025 to Ripple, Circle, Paxos, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets, followed by additional approvals in February 2026 for Crypto.com, Bridge, and Stripe. In total, eleven applicants received such charters within approximately 83 days.
Banks argue that these limited-purpose trust bank charters now provide bank-like national powers while being governed by a lighter regulatory framework. This shift stems from an OCC reinterpretation finalized on April 1, 2026, which expanded the scope of what trust companies can do.
The concern among traditional banks is that these charters enable stablecoin issuers and digital asset custodians to operate nationwide without needing deposit insurance, state-by-state licensing, or adhering to the capital requirements full-service banks face. This regulatory latitude poses competitive risks to legacy banks.
Though the Bank Policy Institute’s outside counsel is reviewing litigation options, the strategy centers on leveraging the threat of legal action to influence regulatory outcomes rather than commencing immediate court proceedings. This stance casts uncertainty over pending applications, conditions on Ripple's charter, and the precedent set by Anchorage, the only company to fully complete the trust charter process.
Industry and Regulatory Responses
The charters issued to crypto firms mark a significant moment for the digital asset industry, effectively allowing these companies to become federally chartered trust banks. The crypto sector views this as being integrated into the US banking system's perimeter. Conversely, the entrenched banking lobby interprets this as a boundary shift that erodes their competitive advantages.
The ongoing tension between major banks and the OCC unfolds amid broader industry developments, including efforts to advance blockchain adoption in traditional finance. For instance, the UK recently announced plans to tokenize repo and gilts markets, involving firms like Ripple alongside giants such as BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs in a Treasury-backed project to digitize wholesale markets with a target of up to £33 billion annual economic output by 2035.
This article does not constitute financial advice.
