Warren Vs. Crypto: The Digital Chamber Rejects Risk Claims From National Trust Charters

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s criticism of how the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) handled national trust bank charters for digital asset firms has triggered a direct response from the crypto industry. 

On Tuesday, The Digital Chamber (TDC) sent a letter to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould, pushing back on Warren’s claims and arguing that the OCC’s actions were both lawful and grounded in a careful supervisory review.

Why Warren Targets OCC Crypto Charters

The dispute centers on a letter Warren wrote to Gould earlier this month, following reports that the OCC had approved national trust charters for a range of digital-asset companies. 

Warren’s argument, as reported by Bitcoinist ahead of TDC’s reply, is that at least some of the firms appear to be “seemingly ineligible” for the kind of charter they received. 

In her letter, the senator said the OCC approved at least nine national trust charters for crypto companies that, in her view, “appear to go far beyond the narrow set of activities permitted by law.” Warren also went further by describing what she sees as an “apparent violation of the National Bank Act.”

However, TDC argued that the charter decisions represent “a legally sound and long-overdue step” toward bringing digital asset activities into the federal prudential framework, which it described as being focused on safety and soundness. 

The Digital Chamber’s Response

The Digital Chamber emphasized that the firms named in Warren’s letter were not simply handed permission. According to TDC, each company went through a rigorous OCC review and met applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. 

The group said charters, or conditional approvals for charters, were granted only after each firm demonstrated that its proposed activities fit within permissible activities for national trust banks. 

TDC further rejected Warren’s characterization that the approvals could amount to “apparent violations” of the National Bank Act, arguing that this view misunderstands both the statute and the OCC’s longstanding authority to grant charters. 

At the end of the letter, The Digital Chamber said it is ready to work with the OCC, Congress, and other stakeholders to help ensure that the federal framework for digital asset activities is both legally durable and functionally effective. 

The group concluded that it does not view the chartered banks as threats to the banking system, calling them regulated federal entities operating under OCC supervision and arguing they represent “the future of a more inclusive and competitive financial system.”

Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com