US Regulator Opens Banking Gates for Major Crypto Firms
Landmark OCC approvals for companies including Fidelity, Ripple, and Paxos grant national trust-bank charters, paving the way for wider institutional adoption of digital assets.
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has opened a new chapter in the integration of digital assets into the traditional financial system, granting federal charters to a cohort of leading cryptocurrency and digital asset firms.
In a landmark regulatory shift, companies including BitGo, Paxos, Ripple, Circle, and Fidelity Digital Assets have secured conditional approvals to operate as national trust banks. The move provides a unified federal framework for these entities, which were previously navigating a complex patchwork of state-by-state regulations. This federal stamp of approval is seen by many in the industry as a pivotal moment, bestowing a new level of legitimacy on the sector and removing a significant barrier to entry for cautious institutional investors.
These approvals allow the firms to offer a range of services—primarily custody for digital assets—to institutional clients across the country under a single, recognized federal standard. While these special-purpose charters do not permit the companies to take deposits or make loans like traditional banks, they are a crucial piece of infrastructure. They provide the regulatory certainty that pension funds, asset managers, and corporate treasuries require to safely engage with the crypto asset class.
Anchorage Digital became the first crypto firm to receive a charter in early 2021, setting a precedent that was soon followed by others. The approvals for a broader group including digital asset custodian BitGo signal a clear trend. "This is a huge milestone for the digital asset space," a BitGo representative stated in a press release about the approval. "A national charter provides the clarity and governance that institutions demand."
The series of approvals occurred under the leadership of then-Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks, who championed the integration of financial technology into the federal banking system. Brooks argued that providing a path for crypto firms to become nationally chartered was not about embracing risk, but about creating a coherent regulatory environment for innovation.
"We're not trying to bring risky businesses into the banking system, we're trying to make the charter flexible enough that it can accommodate different ways of doing business," Brooks commented during his tenure. He elaborated on the vision of creating a "fully integrated crypto economy, that doesn't have a clunky connection with the old world," as reported by Blockworks.
The OCC's decisions provide a competitive advantage to the approved firms and are expected to accelerate the maturation of the digital asset market. By establishing a clear regulatory path, the U.S. is positioning itself to be a central hub for the growing digital asset economy. The move also intensifies the discussion among other regulatory bodies, including the SEC, on the proper framework for overseeing the rapidly evolving asset class. For institutional investors who have remained on the sidelines, the establishment of federally chartered crypto banks may be the green light they have been waiting for.