News linked to both this project and an event.
ICBA alleges the OCC lacks regulatory safeguards in issuing banking charters to crypto companies. The crypto lobbying group CCI strongly backs the OCC, claiming the lawsuit aims to stifle financial innovation.
美国社区银行家协会（ICBA）提起诉讼，挑战 OCC 批准加密货币企业发放国家信托执照的权力。ICBA 指责此举构成“侧门银行”，让加密公司规避了 FDIC 和资本要求等核心义务。
Odaily News: The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging its authority to grant national trust bank charters to crypto firms and asking the court to vacate the final rule dated March 2, 2026, and Interpretive Letter No. 1176.ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said the charters give crypto firms the credibility of a federal bank charter without requiring compliance with federal deposit insurance, capital and liquidity standards, and the Community Reinvestment Act. The ICBA also seeks to revoke Protego Holdings' conditional charter, citing deficiencies in its governance and risk controls.The lawsuit involves digital asset firms that have applied for or obtained OCC charters, including Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo, Kraken parent company Payward, Block, and World Liberty Financial. Senator Elizabeth Warren separately accused the approvals of being unlawful, drawing pushback from the industry; the OCC plans to complete stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act by November. (Decrypt)
The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), alleging that it illegally allowed crypto companies to enter the banking sector through national trust charters. The plaintiff argues that this action violates legal provisions, grants special privileges to crypto entities, and circumvents core financial regulatory obligations.
The Independent Community Bankers of America filed a lawsuit against the OCC in federal court, alleging that it exceeded its authority by issuing national bank charters to cryptocurrency companies, and stated that this places traditional small banks at a severe competitive disadvantage.
Odaily News: The ICBA has sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), alleging that its approval of multiple crypto firms to establish digital asset trust banks allows these institutions to avoid the same regulatory standards as traditional banks, creating a competitive disadvantage. (CoinDesk)
Odaily News: The U.S. Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act last week in a procedural vote of 49 in favor and 50 against, falling short of the required 60-vote threshold. Negotiations on the market structure bill reached a deadlock over ethics provisions related to Trump's crypto business.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subsequently introduced a digital asset "innovation exemption," allowing qualifying platforms to trade onchain tokenized U.S. stocks without registering as national securities exchanges. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a no-action position for passive software providers and submitted a broader crypto market rulemaking proposal to the White House for review.The Federal Reserve proposed requiring stablecoin issuers under its supervision to fully back tokens with safe, liquid assets and hold capital against operational risks. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is advancing stablecoin rulemaking and plans to finalize the relevant rules by November. (Decrypt)
Stablecoin issuer Agora announced that it has received preliminary conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a federally chartered and federally regulated national trust bank. Upon obtaining final approval, the trust bank will operate under OCC supervision.
Bastion has secured conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), officially initiating its national trust bank license application. The institution plans to leverage this authorization to establish stablecoin and payment infrastructure under federal regulatory oversight.
Odaily News: Anchorage Digital Bank N.A., the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, began offering xU3O8 custody services to institutional clients on September 16, 2026. The token is backed by physical uranium concentrate (yellowcake), with the relevant uranium materials stored at Cameco facilities and beneficial ownership held through a UK trust structure.xU3O8 is issued by Uranium.io, with UK regulator Archax serving as trustee, and the underlying assets mapped through the Etherlink network. Cameco is responsible for safeguarding the physical uranium in certified facilities and regularly publishes reserve proof audit results.Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and its clients can include xU3O8 in the same segregated, bankruptcy-remote accounts as Bitcoin and cash equivalents. Currently, xU3O8 is priced at approximately $5.66 per unit, with a total market cap of about $9 million. (Bitcoin.com News)
According to The Block, Jack Dorsey-founded payment company Block has submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish an uninsured national trust bank named Builders Bank & Trust, N.A. If approved, the bank would provide custody and other trust services, covering Bitcoin and stablecoins. Block stated that this federal charter will establish a federal regulatory framework for some of its custody and related businesses.
Odaily News, Circle has published a statement on the cirBTC reserve mechanism, stating that each cirBTC is backed 1:1 by one native BTC and can be redeemed for native BTC at a 1:1 ratio. The corresponding BTC is held by Circle-affiliated entities and custodied by Circle National Trust, which is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The reserve assets are segregated from Circle's corporate assets and are used solely to protect the interests of cirBTC holders. cirBTC is currently live on Ethereum and will receive native support once the Arc mainnet launches, with future expansion to more blockchains. Circle also provides on-chain reserve verification through a public BTC reserve address and the Chainlink Proof of Reserve mechanism, allowing market participants to compare the scale of reserved BTC against the circulating supply of cirBTC across all supported chains.
Odaily News: Blockchain-native fintech startup OpenReserve received preliminary conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on September 2 to establish a full-service national bank in Salt Lake City, Utah. The approval process took less than five months, with OpenReserve submitting its application on April 13.OpenReserve must raise at least $210 million in initial paid-in capital within 12 months and maintain a minimum Tier 1 leverage ratio of 12% for three years after opening. It must also commence operations within 18 months, or the approval will lapse. The relevant deadlines are September 2027 and March 2028, respectively.OpenReserve plans to offer tokenized deposits, treasury management, foreign correspondent banking, and Banking-as-a-Service for institutional clients. The full-service national bank charter, upon final approval, would allow it to accept deposits and conduct lending activities.OpenReserve previously completed a $25 million seed funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital, and Wintermute Ventures, among others. The company plans to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary to issue and redeem dollar-denominated, reserve-backed stablecoins, but that subsidiary has not yet filed an application with the OCC. (Decrypt)
According to reporter Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett), the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are advancing a rulemaking proposal to clarify the definition of "unsafe or unsound practices" in bank regulation. The term has long lacked a precise definition, granting examiners broad discretion. The new rule will require regulators to tie such determinations to actual violations or significant financial risks, preventing them from pressuring banks under vague reputational or procedural grounds to deny service to legitimate customers, including crypto businesses.
Odaily News: Fox Business crypto reporter stated on the X platform that the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are advancing toward finalizing a rule to define "unsafe or unsound practices" in bank regulation. The term has remained loosely defined for years, relying largely on the broad discretion of bank examiners. Under the rule, regulators must tie determinations that a practice is "unsafe or unsound" to actual violations of law or significant financial risk, thereby reducing the likelihood of pressuring banks—including those serving legitimate clients such as crypto companies—over vague reputational or procedural concerns. The rule marks another important step toward dismantling "Operation Choke Point 2.0."
Crypto infrastructure provider ZeroHash has submitted its second application for a national trust bank charter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Its first application, filed in March, was returned in July. This new submission aims to resolve compliance and custody pain points by securing a licensed status.
According to Chaoxiang Research, Goldman Sachs' research report dated August 24, 2026, indicates that cryptocurrency trading volume fell 30% in July and 21% in August, declining for 10 consecutive months, a duration that exceeded the median of the previous five cycles. Trading volume in this cycle has dropped 75% from its peak, while cryptocurrency market capitalization rebounded 21% over the past week. Goldman Sachs suggests a turning point in trading volume may emerge if market cap remains at current levels. On the regulatory front, 35% of institutional investors cite regulatory uncertainty as the biggest hurdle, while 32% identify regulatory clarity as the primary catalyst. The SEC recently proposed an innovation exemption framework. In 2026, over 10 additional digital asset companies received bank charters from the OCC, and more than 15 crypto firms have already been incorporated into the federal banking system. Crypto companies reduced expenses by an average of approximately 5% in 2026, lifting operating margins by roughly 5.8 percentage points. Goldman Sachs remains cautiously optimistic for the second half of the year, with sector valuations currently positioned at the 30th percentile over a five-year period. Key recommendations include COIN (target price $196), HOOD ($124), IBKR ($114, featured on Goldman Sachs' Conviction List US), and FIGR ($43). The investment logic diverges across the three sectors: traditional brokerages are poised for a September reversal, prediction markets are driven by the election cycle, and crypto equities benefit from a triple catalyst of market cap recovery, cost reductions, and regulatory reform.
According to Bloomberg, the Trump family-backed cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial has received preliminary conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter, with plans to establish World Liberty Trust Company. Upon final approval, the institution will be able to directly issue and redeem the stablecoin USD1, manage its reserve assets, and provide digital asset custody services.
Jonathan Gould, head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, stated that the OCC will release the final implementing rules for the GENIUS Act in November, which establishes a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and is scheduled to take effect in January 2027.
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved World Liberty Financial's trust license application. Ten Democratic senators signed a bill to prevent corruption in bank applications.