Jonathan Gould, head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), said crypto companies seeking a U.S. federal bank charter should be treated the same as other financial institutions. Speaking at a blockchain conference, Gould argued that custody and safekeeping services have been conducted electronically for decades and that “there is simply no justification for considering digital assets differently.”
Gould warned against confining banks to past technologies or business models, saying the banking system can “evolve from the telegraph to the blockchain.” The OCC has received 14 applications to start new banks so far this year, including from entities involved in novel or digital-asset activities — a volume nearly equal to similar applications received over the previous four years.
Chartering, he said, helps ensure the banking system keeps pace with financial evolution and supports the modern economy. For that reason, entities engaged with digital assets and other new technologies should have a clear pathway to become federally supervised banks.
Gould acknowledged concerns raised by banks and financial trade groups about crypto firms getting charters and the OCC’s capacity to oversee them. He cautioned that those worries risk reversing innovations that would benefit customers and local economies. The OCC, he noted, already has experience supervising a crypto-native national trust bank and is hearing frequently from existing national banks about their own innovative products and services.
Given that experience and ongoing engagement with industry, Gould expressed confidence in the OCC’s ability to supervise both new entrants and new activities of existing banks in a fair and even-handed manner. To date, only two crypto firms have OCC-related charters: Anchorage Digital (since 2021) and Erebor, which received a preliminary national trust charter in October.
