Crypto: American Banks Strike Back

A Lawsuit Against the OCC in Federal Court

Small American banks are going on the offensive against the entry of crypto companies into the banking sector. They argue that companies like Coinbase, Circle, or World Liberty Financial can benefit from federal recognition without bearing the same constraints as traditional institutions.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), which primarily represents local banks with less than $10 billion in assets, has filed a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in a federal court in Washington. It accuses the regulator of overstepping the powers granted to it by the National Bank Act.

At the heart of the dispute are the licenses of National Trust Bank. These licenses allow for the custody of digital assets and the provision of certain payment services, but do not permit accepting deposits or granting loans like a traditional bank. The ICBA specifically contests the conditional authorization granted to Protego and asks the court to challenge the framework used by the OCC to issue these licenses.

For Rebeca Romero Rainey, president of the ICBA, this system constitutes a "backdoor" into the federal banking system. According to her, it allows crypto companies to benefit from the credibility of a national charter without offering all the protections associated with traditional banks.

Coinbase, Circle, and World Liberty Financial in the Crosshairs

A trust license primarily allows for the custody of assets on behalf of clients, without opening traditional deposit accounts. The OCC regularly grants these licenses to crypto players. Among these trust projects are banks created for crypto, such as Protego and Erebor, and major companies in the sector, like Coinbase, Circle, and Crypto.com. Last month, the regulator even issued a full banking license to OpenReserve Bank, supported notably by Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures.

World Liberty Financial, partially owned by Donald Trump and his family, is among the latest companies for which the OCC has approved the license application, though it is unclear whether this is a definitive or conditional agreement, like that of Protego. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has denounced a license that offers the presidential family "a new way to get rich."

First, Trump's family made billions from crypto.
Then his crypto company got a federal bank charter, giving him and his family a new way to profit.
Trump's not working for you. He's working for himself.
--- Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 1, 2026

A Standoff Already Underway in the Senate

The ICBA has already weighed in against the CLARITY Act, the bill intended to regulate the crypto market, which failed in the Senate in September. Bankers feared that its rules on stablecoins would encourage customers to withdraw their money from bank accounts to place it in stablecoins, while deposits are the core of their business.

Without mentioning the lawsuit, the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), an organization in the American banking sector, also calls for actors offering new services to be subject to the same rules as other licensed institutions. For its vice president Paige Pidano Paridon, companies that want to engage in traditional banking activities "should apply for a full banking license."

Sources: CoinDesk, The Defiant, Elizabeth Warren on X

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