OCC Signals Open Door for National Bank Charters for Digital Asset Firms
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has sent a signal to the cryptocurrency industry that it is open for business. Acting Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould stated that entities engaged in legally permissible activities, including digital assets and other novel technologies, should have a path to becoming national banks.
Gould's remarks were made at an audience this week, and they come at a critical time for the crypto industry. While traditional lenders are still wary of digital assets, the OCC is quietly rewriting the rules without waiting for Congress. In the past 18 months, the agency has received 40 de novo applications, including those for national trust banks, and has resolved many complete applications within 120 days.
A national bank charter would offer crypto firms direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment system, pre-emption of state licensing regimes, and a single federal supervisor instead of a patchwork of 50 state money-transmitter laws. This would lower the cost of capital and unlock institutional flows that currently sit on the sidelines.
Real-world asset tokenization has crossed $20 billion on-chain, and major institutions like JPMorgan are settling live Treasury trades with firms such as Ondo. A domestic crypto banking sector is no longer optional when tokenized assets demand bank-grade settlement layers.