The debate between the U.S. crypto industry and Senator Elizabeth Warren over bank charters continues to intensify. Recently, the industry group Digital Chamber sent a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), urging it to uphold recently issued national trust bank charters to crypto companies and establish clearer regulatory expectations for such institutions.
The industry requires maintaining the license.
The statement from the Digital Chamber was a response to Warren's criticism last week of the Trump administration. Warren argued that the Treasury Department’s recent approval of licenses for crypto companies may have crossed the boundary of U.S. banking laws, allowing crypto firms to conduct banking-like activities under a regulatory framework with lighter requirements.
The Digital Chamber stated in a letter to OCC head Jonathan Gould that regulators should continue to uphold these approvals and establish clear prudential requirements for national trust banks, rather than retreating from approvals after disputes arise.
The dispute centers on the scope of business operations.
National trust companies are typically subject to less stringent regulation than traditional commercial banks. These institutions generally provide trust and asset management services but do not engage in traditional deposit-taking activities. Warren’s core concern is that crypto companies may use this charter to effectively conduct broader payment and lending operations.
The industry, however, counters that this claim confuses the business model of stablecoins with the traditional bank deposit-taking model. Digital trade associations emphasize that regulated companies such as Coinbase and Ripple do not accept customer deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
The GENIUS Act serves as the basis
The Digital Chamber cited the GENIUS Act in its letter, stating that Congress, by passing the bill last year, effectively created regulatory space for stablecoin issuers under federal oversight. The businesses the approved companies seek to conduct primarily include the issuance and redemption of stablecoins, custody services, and management of reserve assets.
The organization believes that since Congress has already permitted the establishment of federally regulated stablecoin issuers, the OCC’s continued exercise of its charter approval authority is a natural extension. The outcome of this dispute could influence the path U.S. crypto companies take to enter the core stablecoin business in the future.