Warren Calls OCC Crypto Trust Charter Approvals Illegal Under Bank Law

• Senator Elizabeth Warren said the OCC improperly approved at least nine crypto national trust charters.
• Her letter said some firms appear to seek bank-like activities without full bank obligations.
• Warren named risks tied to consumers, conflicts of interest, and the separation of banking and commerce.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has accused the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency of wrongly approving national trust charters for crypto firms that she says may be acting like banks without following full bank rules.

In a letter to Comptroller Jonathan Gould, Warren said the OCC’s approvals for at least nine crypto-linked national trust companies appear to conflict with the National Bank Act. She warned that the structure could expose consumers and the banking system to risks if firms use narrower trust charters to run broader crypto banking operations. 

Warren Challenges OCC Charter Push

Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said the OCC has approved at least nine national trust charters for crypto companies since December 2025. Her letter argued that some of those companies plan to operate beyond the limited activities normally allowed for national trust companies.

The senator said the firms “look like crypto banks, not trust companies,” according to reporting on the letter. She said business plans reviewed by her office suggested activities tied to custody, payments, lending, and stablecoins. 

That distinction sits at the center of the dispute. National trust companies are generally allowed to provide fiduciary services, such as managing assets for clients. However, they do not operate like full-service national banks, which face wider rules around deposits, lending, capital, liquidity, consumer protection, and supervision.

Warren said allowing crypto firms to use trust charters while performing bank-like functions would create regulatory arbitrage. She also warned that it could weaken the separation between banking and commerce.

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Crypto Firms Named in Dispute

Reports said the OCC has approved national trust banking charter applications for companies and affiliates linked to Coinbase, Circle, Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, Fidelity, Crypto.com, Stripe, and Protego. Reuters previously reported that the OCC granted conditional approvals in December for several major crypto firms, including Ripple and Circle, to establish national trust banks. 

Those charters can help firms offer custody, asset administration, and settlement services under a federal regulator. However, Reuters noted that the approvals do not permit traditional banking activities such as accepting deposits or issuing loans. 

The debate has gained urgency after stablecoin legislation pushed more crypto firms toward federal trust structures. Warren’s letter said some business plans appeared connected to stablecoin activities that resemble deposit-taking, a claim that could draw closer scrutiny from banking regulators.

Several crypto companies have pursued national trust charters to simplify oversight across the U.S. Instead of dealing with separate state licensing regimes, a federal charter can create a single supervisory path. Even so, Warren argues the OCC cannot use that path to approve firms whose planned activities go beyond what the law permits.

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June 1 Deadline Puts Pressure on OCC

Warren asked the OCC to provide the full charter applications for all nine approved companies. She also requested the legal analyses used to support the approvals, along with documents showing whether the agency has allowed national trust companies to carry out non-fiduciary activities. 

Her request also seeks communications between OCC officials and the White House or Trump family members about the charter approvals. The deadline for the requested records is June 1.

The letter comes after Warren and Gould clashed earlier this year over a pending national trust bank application tied to World Liberty Financial, a Trump family-linked crypto company. Reporting on the exchange said Warren pressed Gould on whether he would delay or deny the application, but he declined to make that commitment. 

The OCC has not resolved the political fight around crypto trust charters. For the industry, the approvals could open a clearer federal route for custody and stablecoin infrastructure. For Warren, the same approvals raise a legal question: whether crypto firms are receiving bank-like privileges while avoiding the full obligations that come with being a bank.