A banking coalition has sued the federal agency responsible for granting bank charters, claiming it overstepped its legal authority by providing national trust bank designations to cryptocurrency businesses.
On Friday, the Independent Community Bankers of America submitted a lawsuit in federal court targeting the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The organization argued that the regulator is pushing forward broad new powers to charter national trust banks that lack authorization under the National Bank Act, permitting these entities to enter the U.S. financial network without facing the same rigorous oversight as local community institutions, which places these smaller banks at a significant disadvantage.
As one of the prominent banking advocacy groups in the United States, the ICBA primarily represents smaller financial institutions. The association also heavily opposed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which failed to pass in the U.S. Senate the previous month due to bankers’ concerns that its stablecoin rules did not adequately shield them from direct competition against foundational deposit accounts. Presently, the organization is directing its focus toward the trust charters that digital asset enterprises seek as a pathway into the American banking and payment infrastructure.
ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey stated in a release that Congress did not establish the national trust charter as a backdoor into the banking industry for digital asset companies looking for the validation of a federal bank designation, noting that these enterprises bypass identical obligations concerning capital, liquidity, supervision, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. requirements.
When CoinDesk reached out for a statement, a representative for the OCC noted that the agency avoids commenting on ongoing legal disputes.
While the OCC continues issuing trust charters steadily to crypto firms, these organizations operate under different business models and do not provide identical services compared to standard community banks. For example, they do not manage the traditional cash deposit accounts that require and are protected by FDIC insurance.
In a release issued following the publication of this article, Paige Pidano Paridon, executive vice president and co-head of regulatory affairs at the Bank Policy Institute, mentioned that BPI supports initiatives that integrate innovative financial products and services into the regulated banking sector, provided that the participating entities follow the identical regulations and responsibilities as every other chartered institution operating in those sectors.
She emphasized that companies should only receive trust charters if they concentrate strictly on trust operations, adding that entities wishing to offer conventional banking services should apply for full-service bank charters instead, because consistent and strict regulations remain vital for maintaining a competitive, secure, and robust banking sector.
Banking supervisors have credited the industry’s pursuit of federal trust charters with driving a revival of newly approved banking entities following an extended quiet period.
Certain trusts have emerged as digital-asset-centric financial institutions, including Protego and Erebor. Additional charters stem from established cryptocurrency enterprises such as Coinbase, Circle, and Crypto.com.
World Liberty Financial, an enterprise partially owned by President Donald Trump alongside his relatives, represents a more recent addition. Its charter approval drew sharp criticism from opponents such as Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who accused the regulator of enabling presidential corruption by granting a new avenue for him and his family to generate profit, as expressed on the social media platform X.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/10/02/bank-group-sues-u-s-regulator-over-granting-crypto-trust-charters.
