Digital Chamber defends OCC’s bank charter approvals for Coinbase, Ripple against Senator Warren’s claims

The Chamber of Digital Commerce fired back at Senator Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday, sending a letter to OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould urging the agency to stand behind its recent national trust bank charter approvals for crypto firms. Warren had accused the OCC of improperly granting at least nine charters since December 2025, claiming the agency allowed crypto companies to sidestep stricter banking regulations.

What the OCC actually approved

These aren’t full bank charters. The national trust charters the OCC has been granting are a narrower instrument. They permit limited fiduciary activities, meaning the firms can handle custody and trust services, but cannot take deposits or make loans like a traditional bank.

The timeline of approvals tells its own story. Ripple National Trust Bank received its conditional approval on December 12, 2025. Circle’s First National Digital Currency Bank landed its charter on the same day. Coinbase National Trust Company followed on April 2, 2026.

Warren’s letters, dated May 18 and 19, demanded full applications, internal communications, and any records of Trump administration involvement in the approval process. Her deadline: June 1, 2026.

The Digital Chamber’s argument

Cody Carbone, CEO of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, framed the OCC’s charter approvals as consistent with the direction Congress itself has been moving. The Chamber’s letter pointed to the GENIUS Act, bipartisan legislation targeting stablecoin regulation, as evidence that federal lawmakers want crypto firms operating within a recognized framework.

Carbone’s core argument is straightforward: if Congress is actively building a regulatory structure for stablecoin issuers and digital asset custodians, it would be contradictory for the OCC to pull back on chartering the very firms those laws are designed to govern.

The Chamber also positioned the charters as a net positive for consumer protection, arguing that federal oversight through the OCC provides a more consistent and rigorous regulatory baseline than the patchwork of state-level money transmitter licenses that most crypto firms currently operate under.

Warren’s track record and the political backdrop

Warren’s demand for records of Trump administration communications related to the charters suggests she sees potential political interference in what should be an independent regulatory process. Warren’s letters accused the OCC of violating the National Bank Act.

The June 1 deadline for those records will be worth watching closely.

What this means for investors

There’s a competitive dimension worth tracking. Nine charters since December 2025 is a rapid pace. As more firms gain federal trust bank status, the competitive landscape for crypto custody and fiduciary services will look very different than it did a year ago. Firms without charters may find themselves at a disadvantage when competing for institutional clients who require federally supervised counterparties.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.