Crypto.com Joins Ripple, Circle With Conditional Bank Charter Approval Amid WLFI’s Probe
Crypto.com has become the latest crypto firm to secure a confidential approval from the OCC for its National bank trust charter. The exchange joins Ripple and Circle on the list of companies, while Trump’s World Liberty awaits amid the probe into its application.
OCC Grants Conditional Approval to Crypto.com for a Bank Charter
The crypto exchange announced on Monday that it has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter. This will enable the crypto assets company to become a federally regulated custodian.
🚨NEW: @cryptocom joins @Ripple, @circle, @Paxos and @Fidelity in getting conditional approval for a @USOCC trust bank charter. @BitGo received full OCC approval to convert its state trust company into a nationally chartered trust bank late last year. https://t.co/TmlECHHSO4
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) February 23, 2026
The approval comes at a time when the U.S. has taken a more crypto-friendly approach under President Donald Trump. Crypto.com submitted its application to the OCC in October. Although conditional approval is not a finished process, it is a major step forward.
These approvals place these firms into a growing list of crypto firms that are trying to position themselves in a federal system. In December, BitGo, Circle, Paxos, Fidelity, and Ripple all received conditional approvals. This is also happening while the Trump World Liberty Bank charter application faces review by political leaders.
The charter would allow the company to supervise and hold client assets, as well as facilitate trade settlement in a federally supervised system, but not cash deposits or sanctions on loans. Crypto.com said that when finally approved, it would be a federally supervised national trust bank under the OCC’s supervision.
Analysts in the industry have suggested that a national trust bank charter is necessary for crypto-native firms to gain institutional customers and further integrate into the traditional financial system.
Democrats Send Letter to Treasury Against World Liberty’s Bank Push
In the latest news on the World Liberty Bank push, Democrats asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the regulators’ handling of WLFI’s application for a national trust bank charter to issue a dollar-backed token.
They wrote a letter last Thursday on the grounds of systemic risk, foreign ownership, and possible political influence on the bank chartering process, unlike firms like Crypto.com, which have no political ties. This came after Democrats pressed Bessent on the firm’s UAE stake investment.
In the new investigation, they asked Bessent to describe what kind of protections are in place to ensure that foreign government officials or politically well-connected investors do not use the charter process to gain leverage over the US financial system.
The letter asks Bessent to describe the involvement of the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Treasury Department in OCC charter decisions.
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