Quick facts

What it is

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department that charters, regulates, and supervises national banks and federal savings associations. It is one of several federal bank regulators, and it decides who may operate as a national bank.

Why it matters in crypto

A national trust bank charter lets a company custody assets under federal oversight, though not take deposits or make loans like a commercial bank. For crypto firms it is a route to being a qualified, federally supervised custodian, a status institutional investors often require. That has made OCC approvals one of the clearest signals of which crypto companies the federal government treats as legitimate.

Who runs it

Jonathan Gould is the Comptroller of the Currency, according to Banking Dive's reporting. He previously served as chief legal officer at the blockchain firm Bitfury and as OCC chief counsel during the first Trump administration.

Recent moves

Eighteen firms applied for national trust bank charters in 2025, and a number have since cleared at least conditional approval. Circle, Ripple, and Paxos received conditional approvals in December 2025, alongside BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets, and Circle received final approval on July 10. Erebor Bank was approved for a full national bank charter. Our full rundown is in the race for a federal crypto bank charter.

The approvals are contested. Banking Dive reported that bank trade groups argue the charters let crypto and fintech firms offer bank-like products under a less rigorous standard, and that Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the approvals 'improper' in a May 2026 letter. Gould has defended them, saying the OCC has full legal authority.

Timeline

How it fits with the other agencies

The OCC's charters answer a different question from the SEC's or the CFTC's. Those agencies decide how a product is regulated, while the OCC decides whether a company can operate as a federally supervised bank or trust company at all. The Federal Reserve runs a parallel track for banks it supervises that want to issue stablecoins through subsidiaries, so a firm may reach the stablecoin market through either door.

A federal charter also brings a company into the anti-money-laundering framework administered by FinCEN. For institutions deciding whether to hold crypto with a given custodian, a national trust charter signals federal supervision, which is why approvals have been closely watched and contested.

What to watch

Watch for further conditional-to-final conversions, any lawsuit by bank groups, and how the OCC's track relates to the Federal Reserve's separate path for bank-issued stablecoins. Related term: national trust bank charter.

Frequently asked

Does a trust charter make a crypto firm a bank?

Not in the everyday sense. A national trust bank can custody assets and provide fiduciary services under federal supervision, but it cannot take deposits or make loans the way a commercial bank does.

Why do banks object to crypto trust charters?

Bank trade groups argue that crypto and fintech companies could offer bank-like products under a less rigorous charter, raising risks to consumers and the system, and some have reportedly weighed a lawsuit.

Who leads the OCC?

Jonathan Gould is the Comptroller of the Currency as of this page's last review.

Further reading

More profiles: SEC · CFTC · FinCEN · Fed · OFAC · All of Who's Who · Glossary