The Digital Chamber, a leading cryptocurrency advocacy group, publicly contested Senator Elizabeth Warren’s recent claims that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) violated the National Bank Act when it granted national trust charters to several crypto firms. The group’s CEO, Cody Carbone, criticized Warren’s interpretation of banking regulations as misinformed and stressed that the companies voluntarily submitted to federal oversight.
Senator Warren raised concerns that nine crypto companies, including Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, and Fidelity Digital Assets, sought to bypass critical banking safeguards by acquiring these charters. She suggested the OCC may have been influenced by external political pressures, including connections to the White House, in approving these applications. However, the Digital Chamber’s letter to OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould argued the companies complied with all examination protocols and accepted the responsibilities that come with federal supervision.
Carbone emphasized that these firms did not attempt to evade regulation but instead applied for national trust bank charters in good faith, agreeing to be examined by the OCC. He dismissed Warren’s arguments as lacking legal grounding, urging her and other policymakers to specify where the law’s limits were allegedly breached rather than rely on political pressure or vague apprehensions.
These statements came amid ongoing OCC reviews of other crypto-related charter applications, notably from World Liberty Financial—backed by the Trump family—and Payward, the parent company of Kraken exchange. The regulator’s decisions have positioned it as a key arbiter in defining the regulatory landscape for digital asset custodial services within the US banking framework.
While Warren’s office did not respond immediately to requests for comment, her persistent critiques reflect broader tensions over how crypto companies should fit into existing financial regulations, especially concerning federal oversight and consumer protections.