Elizabeth Warren Calls Crypto Bank Charter Approvals for Firms Like Coinbase, Ripple Illegal

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In brief - Elizabeth Warren says the OCC illegally approved crypto bank charters that weaken banking safeguards. - She argues firms like Coinbase and Ripple are acting like banks while avoiding required regulations. - Warren also raised concerns about ties between the OCC and Donald Trump over a charter application linked to World Liberty Financial. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is demanding answers from a key banking regulator that has, under the Trump administration, issued national trust bank charters to crypto companies. In a letter sent Monday to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould, Warren argued these approvals violated the National Bank Act—and are now posing “serious risks” to the safety and soundness of the U.S. banking system. “These companies are effectively crypto banks that want to evade the fundamental safeguards and obligations that come with being a bank,” Warren said. The OCC has approved national trust banking charter applications for nine companies and their affiliates including Coinbase, Circle, Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, Fidelity, Crypto.com, Stripe, and Protego. Since President Donald Trump’s return to power last year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a division of the Treasury Department, has approved nine national trust banking charter applications for crypto-focused firms. National trust companies are regulated with less scrutiny than traditional banks, but also are more limited in the services they are allowed to offer. They generally offer fiduciary services—managing assets on another’s behalf—but do not accept customer deposits. In the wake of the passage of the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act last year, numerous crypto companies have applied for national trust banking charters to facilitate the issuance, redemption, and custody of stablecoins and funds backing them, among other capabilities. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are typically pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar. In her letter to the OCC, Warren said those companies “look like crypto banks, not trust companies.” “The business plans include language that suggests the companies intend to engage in non-fiduciary custodial activities, facilitating payments and lending activities, and conducting stablecoin activities closely related to deposit-taking,” she elaborated. Warren has requested the OCC provide her with granular information about the crypto banks’ approved bank charters, and whether the banking regulator allows national trust companies to engage in non-fiduciary activities. She also requested copies of all correspondence between OCC officials and President Trump and his family and his associates regarding its approval of crypto-focused national trust applications. The progressive senator and the OCC’s Gould clashed publicly in February at a Senate hearing, when Warren pressed him on a pending national trust bank application from the Trump family’s own crypto company, World Liberty Financial. Gould refused to say he would delay or deny the application, leading Warren to accuse the official of being “an accomplice” to the president’s alleged corruption. At an event earlier this month, World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff said the company is “in the final stages” of receiving conditional approval from the OCC.

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