The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has reiterated its commitment to revitalizing de novo bank chartering, a significant initiative that has begun to facilitate a federal pathway for some of the most prominent entities within the cryptocurrency sector.

In a recent statement, the OCC emphasized that the encouragement of new bank formations remains a priority, acknowledging the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) commendable strides in this regard.

“De novo chartering is indicative of a robust banking system,” noted Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould. He further remarked that the FDIC’s new approach to evaluating deposit insurance applications is in alignment with the OCC’s efforts to reverse the trend of declining new charters.

The OCC has reported a marked decline in de novo chartering over the past fifteen years. From 2011 to 2014, the OCC averaged fewer than four charter applications per year, with some years yielding no applications whatsoever.

“For more than a decade, regulators have effectively deterred those seeking a federal bank charter and federal deposit insurance,” Gould stated. “Entities engaging in legally permissible activities—including those involving digital assets and other innovative technologies—should have an avenue to attain national bank status. America and the OCC are once again poised to facilitate this process.”

Recent developments indicate a shift in momentum. In the last eighteen months, the OCC has received 40 de novo applications, encompassing requests for national trust banks—a charter category it has endorsed for decades. Notably, the OCC has adjudicated many applications within 120 days of receiving complete submissions. For the first time in five years, Erebor Bank, N.A., has received final approval to operate as a full-service national bank, backed by prominent investors such as Palmer Luckey, Joe Lonsdale, and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

Several leading cryptocurrency companies, including Ripple, Circle, Crypto.com, and Paxos, have secured conditional approval. Additionally, the decentralised finance platform World Liberty Financial, supported by Donald Trump, has submitted an application, aiming to incentivize institutions to utilize its native stablecoin, USD1.

The structural appeal of a national bank charter enables cryptocurrency firms to manage client assets and facilitate trade settlements within a federally regulated framework. For exchanges like Coinbase, whose application remains under consideration, this would allow them to function as a federally recognized crypto custodian, managing assets for larger institutional clients.

However, this movement has not been without dissent. In December, the Independent Community Bankers of America urged the OCC to deny Coinbase’s application for a national trust bank charter, citing concerns over the exchange’s “demonstrably flawed risk and control functions” and its governance structures that purportedly hinder independent oversight.

Similarly, in February, the American Bankers Association, the nation’s largest banking lobby, called for the OCC to delay its review of charter applications from cryptocurrency companies.

Underlying these procedural objections lies a competitive struggle. One of the primary contentions from traditional banks pertains to stablecoins; firms like Coinbase seek to offer users rewards for holding these tokens, a practice that banks argue is inequitable and potentially detrimental to their deposit bases.

The OCC has expressed its intention to persist in encouraging the formation of new banks while reinforcing the resilience of the federal banking system.

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