The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on 2 October over its national trust-bank charter framework. The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia as case 1:26-cv-03441. It challenges an OCC rule, an interpretive letter and the approval of Protego Trust Bank. Reuters reported that the OCC declined to comment.
The complaint says the OCC has approved or conditionally approved 21 national trust banks, including at least 13 cryptocurrency companies. ICBA argues that the National Bank Act does not permit the agency to charter institutions that conduct only fiduciary activities without taking deposits. The trade group is asking the court to set aside the challenged actions. Those statutory and competitive arguments are allegations that the court has not decided.
DISPUTE OVER CHARTER AUTHORITY
National trust banks can provide custody, asset-management and settlement services without operating like conventional deposit-taking lenders. The complaint says the OCC's approach allows crypto companies to obtain a federal charter while avoiding safeguards that apply to full-service national banks. It also argues that the framework stretches the agency's authority beyond the activities authorised by Congress.
ICBA represents thousands of community banks, most with less than $10 billion of assets. Its filing says the disputed charters create competitive and consumer-confusion risks because customers may associate a national bank title with deposit-taking powers and federal deposit insurance. The defendants will have an opportunity to contest those claims in court.
COURT TEST FOR CRYPTO BANKING
The case creates a direct judicial test of how far the OCC may extend national trust charters to digital-asset businesses. A ruling for ICBA could require the agency to reconsider the rule, the interpretive letter or individual approvals. A ruling for the OCC could preserve the current route for specialist trust institutions seeking federal supervision.
The next concrete milestones will be the OCC's response and the court's scheduling orders. Until then, the 21 approvals cited in the complaint remain in place unless the court grants relief. Banks and crypto firms will therefore be watching whether the dispute changes charter applications, supervisory expectations or the treatment of existing institutions.