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The American Bankers Association pushed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to strengthen oversight of new banking charter applications. The move targets emerging digital asset firms seeking federal banking licenses amid rapid regulatory changes.
In a comment letter submitted today, ABA called for increased transparency and robust safety standards during what the association described as a period of intense financial innovation. The letter emphasized that charter applicants' responsibilities remain unclear because federal and state regulators have not adequately defined frameworks for stablecoin and digital asset activities.
Regulatory Framework Gaps Exposed
The association asserted that proposed amendments to 12 CFR 5.20 require continued deliberation given their significant role in shaping pending rulemakings across multiple agencies. ABA urged OCC to avoid measuring application progress against traditional timelines.
"The OCC must ensure that robust, broadly applicable safety and soundness standards are well understood and upheld during this period of rapid innovation."
Must Read: Banks and Crypto Clash Over Stablecoin Rewards
The full letter stressed the importance of patience, calling on OCC to allow each charter applicant's regulatory responsibilities to come fully into view before advancing applications. This approach directly addresses entities experimenting with unfamiliar operational risks and new business lines.
Ripple's Banking Membership Signals Industry Shift
@ChartNerdTA on X highlighted that the American Banking Association recently urged USOCC to provide stronger safeguards for banking charter applicants while sharing a demonstration of how Ripple transactions are processed.
"$XRP: The American Banking Association recently urged the USOCC to provide stronger safeguards for banking charter applicants.. Whilst sharing a demo on how Ripple transactions are processed. Ripple joined the American Bankers Association as a Platinum Member in June 2024."
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Ripple's Platinum membership status since June 2024 positions the company within traditional banking circles as digital asset regulations take shape. The timing coincides with heightened scrutiny of charter applications from crypto-native firms.
Resolution Planning Takes Center Stage
ABA strongly encouraged OCC to ensure its receivership capacities and related powers adequately address insolvency risks raised by existing and new charter applicants. The focus on resolution planning reflects concerns about institutions venturing beyond traditional banking activities.
Related: SOIL Builds First Institutional Lending Product on XRPL
The association recommended prohibiting charter applicants from including "bank" in their names unless they are subsidiaries of banks or bank holding companies that offer full banking services. This naming restriction aims to prevent entities from misrepresenting their service offerings to consumers.
Digital Asset Regulation Remains Undefined
Charter applicants face uncertainty as Congress and federal regulators work to establish clear digital asset frameworks. The ABA noted that many recent applicants pursue business models not readily identifiable under current regulatory structures.
Must Read: Ripple and Zand Forge RLUSD-AEDZ Bridge in UAE
The banking industry represents $25.1 trillion in assets with over 2 million employees, safeguarding $19.7 trillion in deposits and extending $13.2 trillion in loans. These institutions now navigate requests from digital asset firms seeking federal banking charters without fully developed regulatory guardrails.
Check Out: Bitso Deploys Ripple's RLUSD and XRP for Instant LATAM Payments
The OCC's response to these recommendations will shape how quickly crypto-native firms can access federal banking infrastructure while maintaining the safety and soundness standards that underpin the traditional financial system.
#XRP #Ripple #BankingRegulation #OCC #DigitalAssets
3 Key Takeaways:
ABA demands OCC strengthen oversight for new banking charter applicants in crypto sectorRipple's ABA platinum membership highlights traditional banking engagement with XRP ecosystemRegulators face pressure to define frameworks before approving crypto-focused charters

This Article First Appeared on: https://www.cryptonewslive.org/article/xrps-ripple-pushes-banking-regulator-for-charter-safeguards

Many users are talking about the new regulatory news after the SEC changed its exam plans. Some traders say this is a big shift because crypto is no longer listed as a main focus. Others think the move shows that other parts of the market need more attention right now. The chat is active as people try to understand what this means for the broader space.
Some users point out that Bitcoin $BTC and Ethereum $ETH remain steady even with this news. Traders say the slow and calm price action makes it easier to watch policy updates and understand how they may affect future trends. A few users also say that clearer rules could help long-term growth if agencies work together.
⭐ Market Highlights From Users
Many traders are talking about the SEC’s new priority list. Users say the agency is now focusing more on cybersecurity, market safety, and retail protection. Some traders feel this removes pressure from the crypto space for the moment. Others are waiting to see how Congress and courts guide the next steps.
People are also discussing the new update from the OCC. Users say banks may now handle blockchain gas fees for clients if they have strong controls. Some traders think this makes crypto easier to use for normal customers. Others want to see how banks will put this into real practice.
Most users say they are taking the news slowly and watching for more details. Traders are sharing simple notes and avoiding quick reactions.
⭐ Market Mood
The market feels relaxed, with traders focusing on policy updates instead of fast price moves. People say clear rules and safer systems could help the space grow. The chat is active, and users are sharing thoughts to help each other stay informed.



#CryptoMarket #SEC #OCC #BinanceSquare #MarketUpdate

The shift in tone around digital assets inside the United States banking system has rarely felt as sharp or as symbolic as what just happened with the newest interpretive letter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the way this single document resets the entire conversation is something that becomes clearer the more you sit with it. For years, banks stood on the sidelines trying to navigate a landscape where regulatory uncertainty was the biggest blocker to even the simplest crypto-related action, and the idea that a federally regulated bank could openly hold crypto assets on its balance sheet for operational use would have been considered impossible. Now, with interpretive letter No. 1186, the OCC is not only allowing it but framing it as a natural and permissible part of banking operations in a world where blockchain networks are becoming woven into the everyday infrastructure of payments and custody. This change reflects a deeper recognition that if banks are going to operate in a digital financial environment, they cannot do so without holding the very assets required to interact with those systems.

At the center of the update is something as unglamorous as gas fees, yet it is exactly that detail which highlights how profoundly the regulatory stance has shifted. Blockchains operate on native tokens for network transactions, and no matter how advanced a bank’s infrastructure becomes, it cannot send a transaction, settle an on-chain payment, or deliver custody services without paying those fees. The OCC now clearly states that banks can hold the digital assets they believe will be needed to cover those foreseeable operational gas costs, and this alone erases years of hesitancy, where even touching these assets risked regulatory pushback. It acknowledges that digital tokens are no longer speculative instruments in this context; they are functional tools required for the bank to perform the services it is explicitly allowed to offer under federal law, especially within the scope of the new GENIUS Act that outlines the modern framework for stablecoin-related activity.

What becomes even more interesting is how this guidance implicitly validates the idea that blockchain-integrated banking is not only coming but that it is expected to scale. The OCC is making it clear that if a bank needs to pay network fees on behalf of customers or inside its custody operations, then holding those assets is not some exotic deviation but a normal extension of banking duties. For an industry accustomed to years of “no,” “not yet,” or “we’re still evaluating,” this simple recognition represents one of the strongest signals yet that the U.S. regulatory infrastructure is shifting towards active alignment with digital asset usage, not suppression of it. Banks are no longer forced to structure around blockchain mechanics; they are now allowed to operate inside them.

That’s where the broader context becomes important. The GENIUS Act, passed earlier this year, is pushing federal agencies to develop the first comprehensive U.S. regulatory regime for stablecoins, and the work underway by the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and Treasury signals a future where stablecoin issuers and the banking system coexist under uniform rules. While those rules are still being drafted, what the OCC just did is bridge the gap by clarifying what banks are permitted to do right now. It’s a recognition that banks should not be frozen out of the technological rails they will soon be expected to operate on. They need to be able to move tokens, custody them, settle them, and pay for the gas fees that come along with that activity. If stablecoin payments are going to become an official part of the U.S. financial system, then banks must be able to fully interact with the networks powering them.

But the timing of the guidance is equally historic. After years of caution under previous administrations, the OCC’s posture has changed rapidly with the arrival of a pro-crypto White House and regulators who view blockchain networks as critical infrastructure rather than an experimental niche. Jonathan Gould, Trump’s OCC appointee confirmed in July, has wasted no time in reshaping the landscape, and this letter marks one of the clearest breaks from the past. Instead of vague restrictions and quiet discouragement, the OCC is openly acknowledging that banks must be equipped to engage with digital assets if they want to serve customers in a modern financial environment. It’s not an endorsement of speculation, and it’s not a green light for banks to dive into full-scale crypto investing; rather, it is a formal acceptance that blockchain-based operations require blockchain-based tools, and the banks must be allowed to handle those tools responsibly.

This clarity also puts pressure on the rest of the regulatory apparatus. For years, banks hesitated to experiment with on-chain operations, not because of technical barriers but because taking even a small step risked conflicting guidance from overlapping agencies. Now, with the OCC firmly establishing what is permissible, banks have a stable foundation to begin building the operational structures needed to support custody, tokenized assets, and blockchain settlement. It pushes all the other regulators toward alignment, and by the time the full stablecoin framework is finalized under the GENIUS Act, the groundwork inside the banking sector will already be in motion.

What’s striking is that the OCC specifically emphasizes foreseeability, a subtle yet powerful phrase that changes everything. It means a bank does not need to justify holding crypto assets through complex predictions or speculative modeling; it only needs to demonstrate that those assets are realistically needed to perform its upcoming operations. If a bank anticipates processing transfers on Ethereum, it can hold ETH for gas. If it expects to settle stablecoin transactions on a particular network, it can hold the network’s native token. It transforms what used to be a gray regulatory area into a straightforward operational rule: if the bank must pay gas to perform a permitted service, then holding that gas asset is allowed.

This unlocks a level of operational planning that large financial institutions have been waiting for. Suddenly, banks can design blockchain-integrated workflows, not as experiments or pilot programs but as scalable, regulator-approved offerings. It also opens the door for broader institutional adoption of blockchain settlement, because banks can now build infrastructure around predictable access to required tokens rather than maintaining awkward workarounds. This alone is likely to accelerate the development of enterprise-grade crypto custody, tokenized settlement layers, and more seamless digital payments rails inside traditional banking systems.

The political backdrop adds another layer of momentum. The shift from skepticism to active integration, driven by a pro-crypto administration, creates a tailwind for every institution that has been waiting for a clear signal that engagement with blockchain is not only acceptable but expected. By reversing years of hesitation in a single interpretive letter, the OCC is telling banks: your operations can involve crypto assets, and the system will support you instead of penalizing you. That reassurance is the missing piece many institutions needed before investing serious resources into modernizing their infrastructure.

For the broader crypto industry, the significance is even larger than the narrow focus of gas fees might suggest. What we are witnessing is the beginning of structural normalization, where digital assets function not as external add-ons but as built-in components of banking operations. It also signals a regulatory trajectory where stablecoins, blockchain settlement, tokenized deposits, and on-chain custody become part of the standard banking toolkit rather than edge-case experiments. As rules continue to develop, banks will already be aligned with the model of holding necessary crypto assets as operational tools, and this baseline will open the door to wider and deeper forms of integration.

In short, the #OCC new guidance is not just a clarification about holding tokens for gas. It is a marker of where #US banking is headed, an acknowledgment that digital assets and blockchain networks are becoming part of the operational foundation of modern finance. It turns what was once a regulatory barrier into a functional pathway and shifts the entire tone of institutional engagement. And while the full stablecoin regulatory framework is still being crafted, this single letter sends a message that the transition has already begun. The banks now have the green light to step into a world where blockchain operations are simply part of banking, and the institutions that move early will be the ones shaping what that future looks like.

يشير تقرير جديد صادر عن بنك أوف أمريكا إلى انتهاء مرحلة "النقاش" التنظيمي، وبدء التنفيذ الفعلي.
أهم الخطوات الدافعة لهذا التحول:
• موافقة مكتب مراقب العملة (#OCC ) المشروطة على تراخيص بنوك ائتمانية لخمس شركات أصول رقمية
• مقترح المؤسسة الفيدرالية لتأمين الودائع (#FDIC ) المرتقب بشأن الموافقة على العملات المستقرة للبنوك
• تعاون الاحتياطي الفيدرالي بشأن قواعد رأس مال العملات المستقرة وسيولتها (قانون #GENIUS )
هذه بداية عملية انتقال التمويل التقليدي إلى تقنية البلوك تشين على مدى سنوات عديدة.
يجري بنكا جيه بي مورغان ودي بي إس حاليًا اختبارات على الودائع المُرمّزة عبر سلاسل بلوك تشين متعددة، مما يُثير نقاشًا محتدمًا:
الودائع المُرمّزة مقابل العملات المستقرة... أيهما الأفضل؟
يؤكد بنك أوف أمريكا على ضرورة إتقان البنوك لتقنية البلوك تشين الآن. فكل شيء، من السندات إلى الأسهم إلى المدفوعات عبر الحدود، قد تتم تسويته قريبًا على البلوك تشين. 👀
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