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Warren challenges OCC charters
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to explain why it approved national trust charters for crypto-focused firms, arguing the companies may not qualify under the National Bank Act.
“In a letter dated May 18 to Comptroller Jonathan Gould”
In a letter dated May 18 to Comptroller Jonathan Gould, Warren said the approvals raise questions about whether firms are being allowed to operate in ways that resemble banking without meeting the standards applied to full-service national banks.
Warren wrote that “Since December 2025, you have approved at least nine national trust charters for crypto companies that intend to engage in activities that appear to go far beyond the narrow set of activities permitted by law,” and she pressed for documents and details on how the OCC reviewed and approved the applications.
The firms named in reports include Ripple, Coinbase, Paxos, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Asset Services, Crypto.com and Bridge, a Stripe subsidiary, and the OCC did not immediately respond to media requests for comment on the letter.
“Crypto banks” vs trust
Warren’s central argument is that a national trust charter is narrower than a standard bank charter and is designed for fiduciary activities rather than broad banking services.
She told Gould that “These companies are effectively crypto banks that want to evade the fundamental safeguards and obligations that come with being a bank,” framing the OCC’s approach as regulatory arbitrage.
The Block described Warren’s accusation that the OCC “improperly grant national trust charters to companies that do not qualify under the National Bank Act,” and it said the approvals include Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo and Coinbase.
Cointelegraph added that Warren called on Gould to provide the full applications of crypto companies the OCC had approved or conditionally approved since December 2025, including Coinbase, Crypto.com’s parent company, Ripple, Stripe, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, Protego Holdings and Paxos, as well as communications between the office and President Donald Trump, members of his family and White House officials.
Deadlines, risks, and next filings
Warren set a June 1, 2026 deadline for the OCC to produce charter records and any Trump family communications tied to the approvals, and she asked for full charter applications including confidential exhibits for all nine approved firms and any pending applications.
“The deadline for all materials is June 1, 2026”
The Block said the charters do not allow these firms to take FDIC-insured deposits or engage in traditional commercial lending, but it reported that they may assist firms running stablecoin businesses under the GENIUS Act framework passed into law in 2025.
Warren also pointed to the American Bankers Association’s February call for the OCC to ease up on granting crypto firms national bank charters, citing unresolved risks in receivership protocols and a lack of finalized federal oversight.
Separately, Cointelegraph reported that on May 8 Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, filed an application with the OCC for a national trust charter, saying that if approved it would allow it to “provide fiduciary custody and other services primarily for digital assets” under the Payward National Trust Company.
