OCC Signals Open Door for National Bank Charters for Digital Asset Firms

A quiet regulatory signal from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency could reset the clock for crypto banking in the United States. Acting Comptroller Jonathan V.

Gould told an audience this week that entities engaged in legally permissible activities—including digital assets and other novel technologies—should have a path to becoming national banks, according to the original report.

“America and the OCC are once again open for business,” Gould said, a remark that packs more than rhetorical weight for an industry long starved of federal charter options. The timing matters.

While the banking industry’s aggressive campaign to derail a major crypto bill shows how traditional lenders still view digital assets as a threat, the OCC is quietly rewriting the playbook without waiting for Congress.