A US banking lobbying group has asked the agency that issues federal banking charters, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, to reject Coinbase’s trust charter application, arguing that the crypto exchange fails to meet requirements in several categories.
The Independent Community Bankers of America, an influential group focused on the policy needs of thousands of small institutions, is behind this latest attempt by the U.S. banking industry to oppose the crypto industry’s incursions into territories once controlled entirely by traditional bankers. In his Tuesday letter to the OCC, he said he “strongly opposed” Coinbase’s efforts, which he said were failing “for several independent reasons, each of which is disqualifying under the OCC’s statutory charter standards.”
This follows a similar effort last week by Wall Street lobbying group the Bank Policy Institute, which opposed trust requests from several other crypto-related companies, including Ripple, Circle and Paxos. BPI also directly targeted Coinbase in a new effort on Monday.
The ICBA letter claims that Coinbase’s trust would have difficulty making a profit in a bear market, that the OCC would have difficulty dissolving the trust safely in the event of a failure, and that Coinbase National Trust Co. would rely on “blatantly flawed risk and control functions.” The organization also claimed that the OCC’s so-called interpretative letter that serves as the basis for the exchange request was not issued properly.
The ICBA asked the national banking regulator to deny Coinbase’s application, or at least expand the publicly available portions of Coinbase’s application materials and hold a public hearing to review it. BPI has made a number of similar statements about other companies.
Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, posted a response on social media site X, accusing bankers of “trying to dig regulatory ditches to protect their own.”
“Imagine opposing a regulated trust charter because you prefer crypto to remain…unregulated,” he wrote. “This is the position of the ICBA.”
An OCC spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ICBA letter.
The largest U.S.-based digital asset exchange — whose CEO Brian Armstrong has been a regular White House guest at recent crypto policy events — applied for the charter last month in an effort to expand services such as payments and settlements and ease requirements that its new financial services be approved in 50 separate state jurisdictions. The company said it has no plans to become a full-service bank.
“This request does not meet statutory chartering standards, presents increased security and robustness risks, and would set a dangerous precedent for the structure of the U.S. banking system,” according to the letter signed by Brian Laverdure, senior vice president for digital assets and innovation policy at ICBA.
The OCC has its permanent leader at the helm following the confirmation of Jonathan Gould, former Bitfury chief legal officer and critic of the crypto sector’s treatment by banks reluctant to do business with the emerging industry. Gould is among President Donald Trump’s few pro-crypto financial regulators to have been confirmed by the Senate so far, although the first year of the president’s four-year term is coming to an end.
Read more: Wall Street joins consumer advocates in calling for changes to the GENIUS Stablecoin Act
UPDATE (November 4, 2025, 7:24 p.m. UTC): Adds Coinbase’s answer posted on X.
UPDATE (November 4, 2025, 8:40 p.m. UTC): Adds additional letter from BPI regarding Coinbase.
