The crypto industry is urging regulators to defend recent approvals for firms to operate as national trust banks. The Digital Chamber trade group asked the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to support its charter decisions following criticism from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who argued the approvals may violate banking law. The industry counters that Congress authorized such activity through the GENIUS Act, which legalized stablecoin issuance.
The Digital Chamber urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to defend recent national trust bank charter approvals for crypto firms. This pushback follows criticism from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who argued the approvals may violate banking law by letting crypto firms perform bank-like activities under lighter regulation.
Senator Warren blasted the approvals, arguing they violated America’s banking laws and posed systemic threats. The crypto industry countered that Congress effectively authorized such activity through the GENIUS Act.
In the last year, the OCC has granted national trust bank charters to facilitate crypto-related activities for companies including Coinbase, Circle, and Ripple. These charters allow firms to facilitate the issuance, redemption, and custody of stablecoins and their backing funds.
The Digital Chamber claimed Congress’s decision to pass the GENIUS Act granted the OCC the authority to expand banking privileges to stablecoin businesses. “It would be deeply incongruous for Congress, on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, to establish a new category of federally regulated stablecoin issuer while the OCC stood by and declined to exercise its chartering authority,” Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone wrote.
The trade group also pushed back on arguments that stablecoin activities fall outside a trust company’s scope. It underscored that approved companies are not taking deposits insured by the FDIC.
