Community bankers sue OCC over crypto firms' national trust charters

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in federal court in Washington, D.C. The October 2 complaint alleges the OCC lacks authority to charter non-fiduciary crypto firms as national trust banks. The lawsuit also names Comptroller Jonathan Gould in his official capacity.

ICBA seeks to invalidate the March 2026 final rule, Interpretive Letter 1176 from January 2021 and Protego's conditional approval from February 2026. ICBA asks the court to bar the OCC from using either policy to grant or conditionally approve any charter. The filing says Gould authored the 2021 letter as the OCC's senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel.

ICBA argues that the OCC misread a 1978 amendment to the National Bank Act to permit trust banks that neither take deposits nor act as fiduciaries. ICBA invokes the major questions doctrine, arguing that such broad authority requires clear congressional approval. ICBA calls the rule arbitrary and capricious, citing the OCC's two-page response to commenters. ICBA alleges that the 2021 letter bypassed the public notice and comment process required by federal law.

The complaint says the OCC approved or conditionally approved 21 trust banks under the Trump administration. The complaint says at least 13 are crypto companies, although the complaint names only Protego. OCC decisions and company announcements show conditional approvals for Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos in December 2025. Circle received final approval in July.

OCC decisions and company announcements show conditional approvals for Stripe-owned Bridge, Crypto.com and Protego in February 2026. Coinbase received conditional approval on April 2. Nomura's digital asset arm Laser Digital received conditional approval on May 29. World Liberty Trust Company, backed by the Trump family, received conditional approval in August. Agora, Catena Labs and Bastion received conditional approvals on September 18.

ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey framed the lawsuit around consumer protection. Rainey said consumers reasonably expect federally chartered banks to carry federal protections. Rainey said digital assets held at crypto firms operating under national trust charters do not carry those safeguards.

The lawsuit comes before the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act takes effect. ICBA argues that the law, effective by January 18, 2027, cannot cure charters the OCC has already granted.