The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in a Washington, D.C. federal court. The complaint, submitted on October 2, challenges the OCC's authority to grant national trust bank charters to non-fiduciary crypto firms.
The lawsuit seeks to invalidate the March 2026 final rule, the January 2021 Interpretive Letter 1176, and the conditional approval granted to Protego in February 2026. The ICBA argues that the OCC misinterpreted the 1978 amendment to the National Bank Act and bypassed mandatory public notice processes.
According to the filing, the OCC has issued or conditionally approved 21 trust banks under the Trump administration, with at least 13 identified as crypto-related companies. Notable firms receiving conditional approvals since December 2025 include Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, Stripe-owned Bridge, Crypto.com, Coinbase, Laser Digital, and World Liberty Trust Company.
The ICBA requests that the court vacate the contested policies and prohibit the OCC from using them to issue future charters. The organization also notes that the upcoming GENIUS Act, set to take effect on January 18, 2027, will not retroactively validate the charters already granted by the agency.
