Senator Elizabeth Warren is criticizing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), claiming they improperly approved national bank charters for cryptocurrency companies. She believes these approvals break the National Bank Act and represent a continuation of her efforts to challenge the previous administration’s quick acceptance of crypto businesses into the traditional banking system.
Senator Warren has raised concerns in a letter to the OCC’s Jonathan Gould, arguing that the agency has approved at least nine national trust charters for cryptocurrency companies that may be operating outside the bounds of the law. She believes these companies don’t meet the legal requirements for operating as national trust banks.
This letter represents Warren’s strongest legal opposition yet to the OCC’s rapid approval of new bank charters. She’s expanding her previous concerns about potential conflicts of interest – initially raised regarding World Liberty Financial – to directly question the legal basis for all these crypto bank approvals.
The Chartering Wave Warren Is Targeting
From my analysis, the central issue in this debate revolves around the privileges these charters provide. Essentially, these national trust company charters give crypto firms access to the Federal Reserve’s payment systems and broader banking services. This is significant because it provides them with the infrastructure needed for things like instant transactions, transfers between banks, and full integration into the U.S. financial system.
This regulatory system allows some financial operations with less oversight than a typical bank. Senator Warren argues that crypto companies are taking advantage of these relaxed rules to offer services that are essentially the same as banking – but without the same financial protections for customers, like deposit insurance and capital requirements that traditional banks are required to have.
Since December 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has quickly approved or received applications from at least 11 cryptocurrency and financial technology companies hoping to become nationally chartered banks. This represents the fastest period of approvals in the agency’s history, with applications being filed or granted in roughly 83 days.
In December 2025, several companies – Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets – initially received approval to operate as trust companies. Bridge (a part of Stripe), Protego, and Crypto.com were approved next, in February 2026. Morgan Stanley, Payoneer, and Zerohash submitted applications in February and March, and Coinbase received its charter in early April. An application from World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture associated with the Trump family, is still under review.
As a crypto investor, I’ve been following this legal debate about what banks are actually allowed to do with things like digital assets. It all comes down to the National Bank Act, which basically says national banks can only handle activities related to traditional trust companies – things like safely holding and managing assets *for* someone else. For years, that’s meant classic fiduciary duties, like managing a family trust. The question now is whether that definition extends to new technologies like crypto.
On March 2, 2026, the OCC made a change to its rules, replacing the term “fiduciary activities” with a more specific description of trust company operations. This change took effect on April 1. While the OCC stated this was simply to match existing laws, some groups – including Senator Warren, the Conference of State Banking Supervisors, and banking industry associations – believe it allows crypto companies to do significantly more under a trust charter without approval from Congress.
“Franken-Charters” and Legal Challenges
The Conference of State Banking Supervisors (CSBS) has been a strong voice of opposition to the proposal. They cautioned that it would likely cause confusion and potentially overstep the legal limits of the National Bank Act. The president of CSBS even referred to the resulting bank structures as “Franken-charters”—meaning they’re poorly constructed from mismatched regulatory parts.
Some legal experts are debating whether the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is interpreting the law too broadly. The main concern is that national trust banks, which operate differently from traditional banks – they don’t take deposits, don’t pay FDIC insurance, and have fewer regulations – are now allowed to offer services like holding digital assets and creating stablecoins, essentially competing with regular banks.
Warren vs. Gould: A Running Battle
This letter represents the newest development in a long-running dispute between Warren and Gould. Back in January, Warren criticized the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s review of World Liberty Financial’s application, calling it unfair and claiming Gould blocked a delay until Trump and his family sold their investments in the company.
During a Senate Banking Committee hearing in February, Senator Warren accused Michael Gould of potentially enabling corruption if he approved a charter for World Liberty Financial. She pointed to a Wall Street Journal report suggesting a high-ranking official from the UAE secretly bought a significant share of the company before the previous presidential administration ended, and asked if this investment was fully revealed in the application.
Gould denied claims that politics played a role, stating the only pressure he experienced came from the questioner. He assured everyone the application would be reviewed just like any other.
Senator Warren’s recent letter expands her criticism beyond just one company, World Liberty Financial, to the entire system the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) uses to approve new banks. She argues the OCC is consistently overstepping its legal bounds by granting charters to companies that don’t meet the requirements of the National Bank Act.
The CBDC Backdoor: A Second Front
Senator Warren is also receiving criticism for her stance on digital currency. Congressman Mike Flood, who chairs a House subcommittee, recently wrote in the Washington Examiner that a part of a housing bill Warren wrote allows for a central bank digital currency to be created without going through the usual legislative process.
According to Flood, the language in the provision isn’t a true halt to a central bank digital currency (CBDC), but rather suggests the Federal Reserve believes it can issue one without needing permission from Congress – a key issue in the ongoing debate about the Fed’s oversight. He argues that Senator Warren is setting the stage for a CBDC launch around 2030, which he considers a significant risk to people’s financial privacy.
The updated bill no longer includes provisions related to a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A vote on the bill is planned in the House this week, and Representative Flood is urging the Senate to quickly consider the revised version.
The debate between Senator Warren’s concerns about cryptocurrency companies entering banking and Republicans’ accusations that she supports a central bank digital currency (CBDC) highlights a larger struggle in Washington. Both parties are trying to determine how digital money should fit within the existing financial system, but they have very different ideas about where to draw the line.
What’s at Stake
If Senator Warren’s legal stance gains support – whether through new laws, court cases, or regulatory action – it could invalidate all the crypto company charters issued since December 2025. This would put companies like Circle, Ripple, and Coinbase at risk of losing their federal banking licenses.
Senator Warren warned that letting companies act like banks without similar rules and protections could harm consumers and destabilize the financial system.
If the OCC’s current stance is upheld, it would essentially allow crypto companies to function like banks – offering services like stablecoins and digital asset storage, and even competing with traditional banks – without the usual protections for customers, such as deposit insurance, or the typical regulatory oversight applied to bank holding companies.
Neither Stephen Lynch nor the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has publicly commented on Senator Warren’s recent letter. The CLARITY Act, a bill aiming to create a comprehensive national system for regulating digital assets, is now being considered by the full Senate after being reviewed and amended by the Banking Committee on May 14th.
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2026-05-19 15:18