Senator Elizabeth Warren is pushing back on how the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is handling bank charter approvals for crypto-connected firms.
The latest flashpoint came after Coinbase, the largest US-listed crypto company, said on April 2, 2026 that it had received conditional OCC approval to create Coinbase National Trust Company. Coinbase said it is not becoming a commercial bank and would not take retail deposits, framing the new entity as a trust company that would bring its custody and market infrastructure business under a federal framework. OCC documents published with the decision describe the proposed entity as a national trust bank that would engage in trust-company operations and related fiduciary activities.
But Warren’s argument is that these trust-bank charters can still give crypto firms access to the credibility and structure of the banking system without the same safeguards that apply to deposit-taking banks. And this debate goes beyond a single approval: on December 12, 2025, the OCC announced conditional approvals for five national trust bank charter applications.
So the policy fight is really about the category itself, and whether these federal trust-bank charters are giving crypto-linked firms a path deeper into the banking system under a lighter regulatory framework.