Warren: OCC Improperly Granted Trust Charters to Ripple, Coinbase

Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould of improperly approving national trust charters for crypto companies in a May 18 letter. Warren wrote that at least nine approvals have been issued since December 2025.

Warren named Ripple and Coinbase among firms she flagged. Her letter also lists Circle, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo, Stripe unit Bridge and Crypto.com. Circle’s conditional approval is tied to a new entity called First National Digital Currency Bank.

Warren wrote, “Since December 2025, you have approved at least nine national trust charters for crypto companies that intend to engage in activities that appear to go far beyond the narrow set of activities permitted by law.” She added that many business plans do not identify traditional fiduciary trust services as the primary activity.

National trust charters let a company operate as a federal trust bank but do not permit taking FDIC-insured deposits or making conventional commercial loans. Regulators and industry officials note the charters can support stablecoin operations under the GENIUS Act, which became law last summer.

In February the American Bankers Association urged the OCC to slow issuance of national trust charters, citing unresolved receivership protocols and the absence of finalized federal oversight. Warren asked the OCC to explain how it evaluated each applicant against statutory limits in the National Bank Act and to clarify whether the approvals comply with federal banking law.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has continued to review applications and issue conditional approvals while lawmakers, banks and industry groups seek more information.