Bankers Urge OCC to Pause Crypto Trust Approvals Pending Clarity on GENIUS Regulations
The American Bankers Association (ABA) the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to take its time approving national trust bank licenses for companies that deal in cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
The request comes at a time when the industry is still dealing with difficultys with oversight that the upcoming Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins will not fix.
Recent OCC Approvals Cause Controversy
Five crypto companies recently got conditional national trust bank certifications from the on December 12, 2025. These are some of them: Bitgo Bank & Trust, Fidelity Digital Assets, Ripple National Trust Bank, First National Digital Currency Bank, and Paxos Trust Company.
With these charters, the companies can retain and manage customers’ digital assets at the federal level without taking deposits or making loans.
This action, which happened less than two months before the ABA got involved, lets these groups work outside of normal banking rules while focused on . The ABA, on the other hand, says that these approvals are too ahead because the rules are still up in the air.
ABA Points Out Regulatory Risks
The ABA sent a to the OCC in response to its national bank chartering notice of proposed regulation. In the letter, the ABA said that applicants who work with stablecoins and digital assets will be watched over by several federal and state regulators, but it is not obvious how.
The group stressed that the OCC should not move forward with applications until institutions complete regulatory responsibilities, including those that will come up in the future GENIUS Act rulemakings, are properly spelt out.
The ABA said that there are still “unresolved securety and soundness, operational, and reanswer issues” with national trusts that specialize in digital assets and don’t have insurance. These issues are especially poor when it comes to keeping customer funds separate, conflicts of interest, and cybersecurity.
The group also said they were worried that these charters could let companies avoid registering with and being watched by the Securities and platform Commission (SEC) or the for activities that would normally be covered by securities or derivatives rules.
Requests for Patience and Openness
The told the OCC to be “patient,” not apply standard timing expectations to these applications, and make sure that each charter applicant’s regulatory responsibilities are “fully visible” before moving forward. The group also asked for more openness about how the OCC sets standards for capital, operations, and resilience when it gives conditional licenses for crypto-related charters.
The ABA also pushed for stronger naming standards, saying that limited-purpose trust banks that don’t do fundamental banking activities shouldn’t include the word “bank” in their names. It said that this would “lower the risk of consumers being confused about the status and securety of obligations at uninsured entities.”
The ABA is also working in Congress to limit stablecoin rewards through bills like the Digital Asset Market Clarity . The group says that stablecoins that earn interest and related “rewards” programs might be like bank products without following all of the rules that banks have to follow. This could make the economy less stable.
The ABA’s position on the GENIUS Act, which tries to create a national framework for stablecoins, shows that there is a lot of friction in the sector between wanting to innovate in digital assets and needing strong protections.
As crypto companies want to grow under federal charters, regulators are under more and more pressure to find a balance between expansion and risk management. The conclusion could affect how is used in traditional finance in the future, making sure that consumer securety and system stability stay at the top of the list.
