American Authorities Abandon Double Standards: OCC Chief Unifies Rules for Crypto and Traditional Finance

In the U.S. regulatory debate, a firm position has emerged from supervisory institutions. The head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency emphasized that applying differentiated criteria to banks operating with digital assets compared to conventional financial institutions would be an unfounded choice. During the 2025 Blockchain Association Policy Summit held on Monday, it was clarified how the current regulatory framework already allows for the classification of activities related to distributed technologies within established banking oversight mechanisms.

A Regulatory Framework Already Ready for Digital Innovation

Companies operating in the decentralized finance sector and seeking federal banking authorization in the United States should follow the same procedures and conditions applied to any other credit intermediary. Although many fintech entities present technologically innovative aspects, the underlying services follow familiar models for regulators. The head of the agency clearly reiterated: “There is no legitimate reason to differentiate the treatment of digital assets.”

Safekeeping and protection of financial resources have already been carried out electronically within banking structures for decades. Therefore, blockchain simply represents a new operational tool that continues to fall within the same consolidated prudential standards. Regulators can implement their security and stability rules on new technologies as well, provided that crypto entities operate within an authorized and continuously supervised structure. This way, risk monitoring remains effective, and at the same time, the development of innovative activities within the authorized banking system is enabled.

A fundamental concern is to avoid relegating banks, including current national trust institutions, to obsolete technologies and operational modes. The banking supervisor emphasized the importance of ensuring that financial institutions have the opportunity to evolve according to market needs and the overall economy.

The Current State: Two Licensed Institutions and Growing Demand

Currently, the regulator supervises only two national trust intermediaries focused on digital assets. Anchorage Digital has obtained federal authorization since 2021, while Erebor received preliminary approval for a national banking trust license last October. Both operate as trust banks dedicated to digital assets under the same authority that oversees major national banking institutions.

This direct experience provides the regulator with concrete knowledge of how custody mechanisms, security standards, and compliance obligations function within the context of digital assets in a regulated banking structure. The agency, having supervised a native national trust institution in the crypto sector, has a factual basis demonstrating how the current regulatory framework already extends to distributed technology operations.

Throughout this year, the agency has received 14 applications for the launch of new banking institutions. This number is roughly equivalent to the total requests received over the previous four years, indicating a significant acceleration. Among the 2025 candidates are several “entities engaged in innovative operations or related to digital assets,” keeping the theme of crypto banks and fintech startups at the center of the federal licensing debate.

The Regulatory Vision: A Unified Path for All Actors

The OCC head argued that issuing federal licenses is a strategic tool to enable the banking system to adapt to financial changes and support the overall economy. For this reason, organizations operating with digital assets and emerging technologies “should have regular access to the federal supervision pathway.” This pathway should remain consistent with the already established one for other intermediaries seeking integration into the authorized system, rather than operating through separate channels.

By implementing this approach, crypto intermediaries would access the same framework applied to national banks and be supervised as ordinary federal banking institutions. The regulator would apply its consolidated tools to balance innovation, risk management, and consumer protection according to uniform criteria.

Sector Concerns and Institutional Response

The head of the authority also addressed reservations expressed by established banks and industry associations regarding the full integration of digital finance into the authorized banking system. Some parties doubt the regulator’s ability to exercise adequate supervision over crypto intermediaries and innovative blockchain activities. However, such concerns could cause delays or reversals in potentially advantageous transformations for clients and local economies.

The agency, for its part, has already built solid experience supervising a native national trust institution specializing in crypto and studying digital assets within its oversight perimeter. Additionally, the regulator’s head highlighted that he now receives daily inquiries from established national banks regarding their projects related to digital assets. These include internal initiatives, new custody offerings, and payment experiments using blockchain technology within authorized institutions.

This acceleration in demand demonstrates that digital assets are no longer an exclusive domain of new operators entering the federal banking system for the first time. The phenomenon reinforces the supervisor’s confidence in the agency’s ability to effectively oversee both new intermediaries and the innovative initiatives of already authorized banks.

He finally emphasized that supervision must remain “fair and equitable” among crypto intermediaries, traditional credit institutions, and other federal banks managing digital assets, ensuring equal conditions of access and oversight.

📅 Published: December 9, 2025