Warren Challenges OCC Leadership Over Crypto Firm Trust Charter Approvals Deemed 'Unlawful'
The senator from Massachusetts has requested that the US Comptroller of the Currency disclose all correspondence between the regulatory agency and Donald Trump that may be connected to the charter approval process.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has charged Jonathan Gould, head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), with breaching banking regulations through his approval of national trust charters for digital currency enterprises.
Through a letter sent to Gould on Monday, Warren stated that the OCC chief had "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," representing what appears to be a breach of the National Bank Act.
Warren demanded that Gould supply the complete applications from cryptocurrency enterprises that the OCC had granted approval or conditional approval to beginning in December 2025, specifically naming Coinbase, the parent entity of Crypto.com, Ripple, Stripe, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, Protego Holdings and Paxos, in addition to any correspondence between the agency and US President Donald Trump, his family members and officials from the White House.
These companies are effectively crypto banks that want to evade the fundamental safeguards and obligations that come with being a bank. Your decision to facilitate this regulatory arbitrage not only conflicts with federal law, it also poses serious risks to consumers, the safety and soundness of the banking system, and the separation of banking and commerce.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
As the ranking member on the US Senate Banking Committee, Warren has consistently criticized both lawmakers and regulatory authorities for backing policies that present possible conflicts of interest stemming from Trump's connections to the cryptocurrency sector. During a committee markup session last week, she advocated for specific provisions to be included in the CLARITY Act, the cryptocurrency market structure legislation, and urged Gould to postpone any consideration of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family-endorsed crypto venture that submitted its charter application in January.
The OCC was contacted by Cointelegraph for a statement but did not provide an immediate reply.
Kraken parent's application under review
Payward, which serves as the parent corporation of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, submitted an application to the OCC on May 8 seeking a national trust charter. According to the company, approval of the charter would enable it to "provide fiduciary custody and other services primarily for digital assets" operating under the name Payward National Trust Company.
Holders of a national trust bank charter are primarily authorized to offer fiduciary and custodial services while being prohibited from accepting deposits or conducting commercial lending activities, which exempts them from facing the identical regulatory obligations imposed on traditional banking institutions.