Eleven Companies Filed for Federal Crypto Bank Charters in 83 Days

Eleven companies filed for OCC national trust bank charters in 83 days while the Bank Policy Institute considers suing to stop crypto firms from entering federal banking.

Eleven Companies Filed for Federal Crypto Bank Charters in 83 Days Eleven companies filed for OCC national trust bank charters in 83 days while the Bank Policy Institute considers suing to stop crypto firms from entering federal banking. March 13, 2026 Key Takeaways: Eleven companies including Circle, Ripple, Morgan Stanley, and Crypto dot com filed for or received OCC national trust bank charters between December 2025 and March 2026. A new OCC rule taking effect April 1 explicitly authorizes national trust banks to conduct crypto custody, removing remaining legal ambiguity. The Bank Policy Institute, whose members include JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, is considering suing the OCC to block the charter wave. From December 2025 through March 5, 2026 , eleven companies filed for or received conditional approvals for OCC national trust bank charters. Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets received conditional approvals in December. Bridge (Stripe's stablecoin subsidiary), Protego, and Crypto dot com followed in early 2026. Morgan Stanley filed on February 18. Zerohash filed on March 5. That is more charter applications than the OCC received annually, on average, between 2011 and 2024. The pace is not accidental. A regulatory rule change published in the Federal Register on March 2 takes effect April 1, explicitly clarifying that national trust banks can conduct activities beyond traditional fiduciary services, including crypto custody. Banks Push Back on Two Fronts Traditional banks are fighting the charter wave through both legislative and legal channels. On March 5, the American Bankers Association rejected a White House compromise on the CLARITY Act, the crypto market structure bill. The dispute centers on whether stablecoin issuers can offer yield o