Crypto and Fintech Firms Are Rushing to Obtain OCC Charters

Tech goes bank: This week, U.S. banks got several new potential contenders:

• On Tuesday, Stripe’s stablecoin subsidiary Bridge announced that it had filed for a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
• On Wednesday, Sony Bank’s subsidiary Connectia Trust followed suit, while Peter Thiel-backed Erebor Bank received conditional approval from the regulator.

Why it matters: The announcements reflect a broader trend. Since the U.S. House passed the GENIUS Act in July, major crypto and fintech firms — including Circle, BitGo, Ripple, and Paxos — have all submitted charter applications. Coinbase joined them just two weeks ago.

• First-mover: All of them are following the path of Anchorage Digital, the institutional crypto platform that already obtained its OCC charter in 2021, and has recently been promoting its whitelabel stablecoin solution as "fully GENIUS-compliant."

What it brings: At the core, the OCC charter comes with three main benefits for crypto firms:

• Federal oversight: The OCC charter provides a single federal framework that streamlines oversight and reduces dependency on state-by-state licenses, removing a central operational bottleneck that plagues many crypto companies today.
• Custody: While the GENIUS Act created a federal framework for stablecoin issuance, it separated issuing from holding the backing reserves. As a result, issuers need a banking charter to legally custody those assets.
• Bank-free transfers: Beyond granting custody rights, the charter makes firms eligible to apply for a Federal Reserve master account, a prerequisite for direct Fedwire access, which enables instant settlement without relying on commercial banks.

What they want: Taken together, the main benefit for crypto firms of having an OCC charter is the ability to bypass traditional banks. But while the benefits are shared, motivations may differ:

• Whitelabel solution: “Through this bank, we'll provide: custody, stablecoin issuance, management of stablecoin reserves, and more,” co-founder Zach Abrams wrote in his post announcing Bridge's application.
• Full-stack offering: In the case of Sony Bank, the charter is expected to be used "to issue U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, maintain the corresponding reserve assets, and provide custody and digital asset management services," a recent report says.
• Payment autonomy: “For players like Coinbase, which are not directly involved in stablecoin issuance themselves, access to Fedwire seems to be a key motivation for seeking a national trust charter,” Todd Phillips, assistant professor at the Robinson College of Business, told us.

Banking pushback: No wonder, then, that traditional banks are wary of being disintermediated. In July, the American Bankers Association sent a letter to the OCC urging the agency to pause its review of these applications pending a broader review of whether these applicants’ business plans align with the purpose of the national trust charter.

What’s next: Still, despite such resistance, the OCC seems to be taking a more open approach to new entrants. As Phillips noted: "Erebor Bank’s preliminary approval was much faster than I have ever seen a bank get provisional approval, and it shows that this OCC is interested in granting new charters. It’s a different ballgame than we’ve seen in the past."

Todd Phillips is an assistant professor of law in the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University, specializing in banking and financial regulation.

The combination of a stablecoin issuer and a trust bank under one roof will transform what a “bank” can be. Until now, trust banks primarily acted as custodians, while payment accounts remained the domain of commercial banks. But under the GENIUS Act, that line is blurring. A stablecoin issuer with a trust charter could hold reserves, issue stablecoins with integrated payment functionality, and, perhaps, move money through Fedwire; all without becoming a commercial bank.

Assuming the OCC approves fintechs’ trust bank charters, and assuming the Federal Reserve grants them master accounts, the shift will be profound. Fintechs with trust charters won’t just compete for payments and deposits. What’s emerging is a new class of neobanks that will not need to rely on correspondent banks. They are purpose-built institutions that merge payment rails with asset custody and challenge incumbents on their home turf. Most incumbents are unprepared, and must adapt quickly.