Overview
- Interpretive Letter 1188 confirms national banks may conduct riskless principal crypto transactions, acting as brokers without holding inventory except in rare cases and subject to safety and soundness oversight.
- Comptroller Jonathan Gould told a Washington policy summit that blocking crypto custody is a “recipe for irrelevance,” arguing digital assets should not be treated differently from long‑standing electronic custody.
- The OCC reported 14 de novo charter applications in 2025, many from crypto firms including Coinbase, Circle, Ripple and Paxos, and it granted Erebor conditional approval in November.
- National trust banks reported nearly $2 trillion in nonfiduciary custodial assets in Q3 2025—about a quarter of assets under administration—a data point Gould cited to underscore historical precedent.
- Facing opposition from groups such as the ICBA and Bank Policy Institute, the OCC says it is preparing, with the FDIC, to remove “reputation risk” from supervisory rules and is reviewing debanking of crypto businesses.