The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has filed a lawsuit challenging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) over approvals of national trust bank charters for cryptocurrency companies. The suit was filed on October 2nd, 2026, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under the Administrative Procedure Act.
The lawsuit challenges a March 2nd, 2026, final rule and related guidance, arguing that the OCC improperly expanded its authority to charter national trust banks for non-fiduciary activities, including substantial cryptocurrency operations. The complaint seeks to overturn the rule and vacate the conditional approval granted to at least one crypto firm, Protego Holdings Corp.
According to the ICBA, the OCC has approved or conditionally approved 21 such charters, with at least 13 going to crypto companies. The organization argues that these approvals violate the law because they exceed the OCC's statutory authority and are arbitrary and capricious.
The ICBA contends that prior to these recent approvals, the OCC had never chartered a national bank that neither took deposits nor engaged in fiduciary activities. The organization states that the OCC's final rule and related guidance allow entities engaged in cryptocurrency and digital assets activities to enter the banking system under the national trust charter rather than under the more rigorously regulated traditional bank charter.
According to ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey, Congress did not create the national trust charter as a means for crypto firms to obtain a federal bank charter while avoiding Community Reinvestment Act obligations, consolidated supervision, capital and liquidity standards, and FDIC insurance that apply to insured depository institutions.
