Key Points
- Elizabeth Warren questions OCC approval of crypto trust bank charters.
- Industry groups defend Ripple and others, citing federal authority.
Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a formal letter in May 2026 to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), challenging nine national trust bank charters granted to crypto-focused firms since December 2024.
The requests covered companies including Ripple, Circle, Paxos, BitGo, Coinbase, and Fidelity Digital Assets, seeking full charter documentation and internal legal analyses by June 1, 2026.
Warren’s action represents a direct challenge to the OCC’s authority to approve specialized national trust banks for digital asset firms.
The dispute centers on whether crypto companies should gain access to federally recognized banking structures that could integrate them more deeply into the U.S. financial system.
Regulatory Context and the OCC’s Authority
The debate has drawn comparisons to “Operation Choke Point,” a 2013 Justice Department initiative that encouraged banks to cut ties with certain industries labeled high-risk.
That program ended in 2017 after criticism that it relied on indirect regulatory pressure rather than formal legislation.
In 2023, some in the digital asset sector described renewed banking restrictions following the collapses of crypto-focused banks as “Operation Choke Point 2.0.”
Warren’s 2026 letter shifts attention to the OCC’s chartering authority, arguing that the agency may have exceeded its mandate under the National Bank Act when granting trust bank charters to crypto firms.
The OCC has previously defended its ability to approve special-purpose charters, emphasizing that trust banks differ from traditional deposit-taking institutions.
Ripple’s Charter and Industry Response
Ripple received conditional approval for a national trust bank charter, which differs from a full commercial banking license.
A trust bank charter can provide federal preemption over certain state-level licensing requirements and establish supervision directly under the OCC.
However, such approval does not automatically grant access to Federal Reserve payment systems, which requires a separate master account decision.
Ripple’s pursuit of a trust structure has been viewed as part of a broader strategy to position its products, including XRP, within a federally supervised framework.
Industry group The Digital Chamber submitted its own letter to the OCC defending the agency’s authority to issue these charters.
The organization argued that existing federal law, including more recent digital asset legislation, provides a basis for specialized bank charters covering stablecoin and crypto-related activities.
Supporters of the charters maintain that revoking or denying them could introduce regulatory uncertainty and legal challenges for both the OCC and approved firms.
