CoinTelegraph
The OCC is moving to restart new bank chartering, explicitly backing entities in digital assets and other emerging-technology businesses as it commends parallel reform work at the FDIC.
Why it matters
For most of the past three years, the OCC effectively froze new national trust bank charters after pulling back from a 2020-2021 wave that had granted federal status to crypto-native custodians including Anchorage and Paxos. The new posture reverses that freeze and signals that federally chartered crypto banks are once again a live regulatory option rather than a politically toxic one.
Market impact
A live charter pipeline gives digital asset firms a path to full federal banking status: direct access to Federal Reserve payment rails, eligibility for FDIC pass-through insurance, and clearer supervisory expectations. The structural advantage flows first to firms already positioned to apply, the incumbents from the prior charter wave plus large institutional crypto custodians that have been waiting out the freeze. Watch for OCC public statements naming applicants in the queue, and any joint rulemaking with the FDIC extending the framework to state-chartered digital asset banks.
Frequently asked questions
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What is the OCC doing about bank charters for digital asset firms?
The OCC is moving to restart new bank chartering, explicitly backing entities in digital assets and other emerging technology. The move reverses a multi-year freeze on new national trust bank charters.
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Why did the OCC stop chartering banks for crypto firms?
The OCC froze new national trust bank charters after pulling back from a 2020-2021 push that had granted federal status to crypto-native custodians including Anchorage and Paxos. The freeze lasted roughly three years.
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Which crypto firms currently hold OCC trust charters?
Anchorage and Paxos both received OCC national trust bank charters during the 2020-2021 wave. Both remain active federally chartered crypto custodians.
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What does an OCC trust charter give a crypto firm?
It provides direct access to Federal Reserve payment rails, eligibility for FDIC pass-through insurance, and clearer federal supervisory expectations. It positions the firm as a federally regulated bank rather than a state-licensed money transmitter.
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How does the FDIC reform effort connect to the OCC charter revival?
FDIC Acting Chair Travis Hill has been pushing his own modernization agenda in parallel. A joint OCC-FDIC framework could extend the federal charter pipeline to state-chartered digital asset banks, broadening the institutional on-ramp for crypto.
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