The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says it will keep pushing to revive de novo bank chartering, a campaign that has already opened a federal on-ramp for some of the largest companies in crypto.
In a statement Tuesday, the regulator said reinvigorating new bank formation remains a priority and commended the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for its own recent efforts on the issue.
“De novo chartering is a sign of a healthy banking system,” said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould, adding that the FDIC’s new process for reviewing deposit insurance applications aligns with the OCC’s work to reverse the decline in new charters.
Over the past 15 years, de novo chartering fell significantly, the OCC said. From 2011 through 2014, the OCC received an average of fewer than four charter applications per year, and in some years it received none at all.
“For more than a decade, regulators signaled that those seeking a federal bank charter and federal deposit insurance need not apply,” Gould said. “Entities that engage in legally permissible activities, including those involving digital assets and other novel technologies, should have a path to becoming a national bank. America and the OCC are once again open for business.”
The numbers have turned. The OCC has received 40 de novo applications in the last 18 months, including applications for national trust banks — a charter type it has granted for decades. In many cases it has ruled within 120 days of receiving a complete application. For the first time in five years, a full-service national bank has received final approval and opened its doors: Erebor Bank, N.A., backed by Palmer Luckey, Joe Lonsdale and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
A number of top crypto companies have received conditional approval, including Ripple, Circle, Crypto.com and Paxos. Donald Trump-backed decentralised finance platform World Liberty Financial has also applied, hoping to get institutions on board with using its native stablecoin, USD1.
The appeal is structural: the charter lets crypto companies hold client assets and handle trade settlement inside a federally regulated framework. For an exchange like Coinbase, whose application remains under review, it would mean serving as a crypto custodian on a federal basis, managing assets for larger entities.
Not everyone is happy about it, though. The Independent Community Bankers of America in December urged the OCC to reject Coinbase’s application for a national trust bank charter, arguing the exchange has “demonstrably flawed risk and control functions” and operates under governance that “prevents independent oversight.”
And in February, the American Bankers Association — the country’s largest banking lobby — urged the OCC to slow its review of crypto companies’ charter applications.
Underneath the procedural objections is a turf war. One of the biggest gripes from traditional banks comes down to stablecoins: companies like Coinbase want to pay users rewards for holding the tokens, which banks say is unfair and could erode their deposit base.
The OCC, for its part, says it will continue to encourage the formation of new banks and strengthen the resilience of the federal banking system.
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