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The Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) has defended the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) national trust charter approach after the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) sued the regulator. The dispute is about whether the OCC may charter trust banks for substantial non-fiduciary activities, including digital-asset services, and what safeguards should apply. ICBA’s claims have not been adjudicated.
What CCI and ICBA say
CCI CEO Ji Hun Kim called ICBA’s lawsuit a “clear attempt to resist national trust charters, payments innovation, and competition in financial services,” according to Cointelegraph’s October 5, 2026 report. CCI’s position is that access to national trust charters can support competition and financial innovation.
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ICBA president and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey argued that Congress did not create the national trust charter as a “side door” into banking. She said crypto firms should not gain the credibility of a federal bank charter while avoiding obligations that apply to insured depository institutions, including Community Reinvestment Act duties, consolidated supervision, capital and liquidity standards, and FDIC insurance. These are competing advocacy positions, not findings by a court.
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What ICBA’s lawsuit challenges
ICBA filed its complaint on October 2, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming the OCC and Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould. The complaint invokes the Administrative Procedure Act and challenges the OCC’s National Bank Chartering rule, Interpretive Letter No. 1176, and a charter approval involving Protego. ICBA requests declaratory and injunctive relief.
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The complaint’s central argument is that national trust charters should cover fiduciary trust functions and related work, and that the OCC exceeded its authority by allowing substantial non-fiduciary activity. ICBA also argues that the chartering approach conflicts with the National Bank Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Those are the plaintiff’s legal contentions; the filing does not establish that the OCC acted unlawfully.
Why the charter boundary matters
The dispute turns on several related questions rather than simply whether crypto companies should be regulated:
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- OCC authority: How far the agency’s statutory authority extends when it grants national trust bank charters.
- Nature of the activity: Whether a chartered entity is performing fiduciary trust work or substantial non-fiduciary services.
- Regulatory obligations: Which safeguards attach to a national trust charter, and how those compare with requirements for an insured depository bank.
- Policy consequences: Whether broader charter access encourages competition or creates gaps in consumer protection and oversight.
ICBA alleges that national trust charters can preempt some state regulation while avoiding requirements imposed on insured depository institutions. CCI, by contrast, frames the lawsuit as an effort to impede innovation and competition. The case contests both the OCC’s legal authority and the design of the regulatory framework; neither side’s policy claims should be mistaken for an established outcome.
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In December 2025, the OCC announced conditional approvals for five national trust bank charter applications. It conditionally approved BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos to convert existing state-level trust companies, and approved new applications from Circle and Ripple. The OCC said new entrants could benefit consumers and the banking industry while remaining subject to OCC supervision. The approvals were conditional, not an unconditional authorization to begin every proposed activity. See the OCC announcement.
Protego is a separate example raised in ICBA’s complaint. It should not be conflated with the OCC’s December 2025 announcement covering five applications.
Other concerns raised by policymakers
A May 19, 2026 minority release from the Senate Banking Committee quoted Senator Elizabeth Warren warning that national trust companies acting like full-service national banks without equivalent obligations could pose consumer and systemic risks. Warren cited possible conflicts of interest, the separation of banking and commerce, and banking-system safety and soundness. That is her stated position, not a court finding or an independently established consumer outcome.
ICBA’s complaint also says two illustrative member banks each spend more than $1.5 million annually on regulatory requirements. That figure is an example presented by the plaintiff, not a verified or representative estimate for community banks generally.
What is known about the case’s status
The available record establishes the complaint’s filing and the public positions described above, but does not establish a court ruling or current docket schedule. The court’s response and the next procedural steps therefore remain unresolved.
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