Advocacy groups counterattack the banking industry's lawsuit regarding the OCC license
The CEO of the Crypto Innovation Committee ( CCI ), Ji Hun Kim, stated that despite recent lawsuits and opposition from some members of Congress, the organization “remains confident” in supporting the decision of the Federal Reserve ( OCC ) to approve licenses for crypto companies.
The Crypto Innovation Committee supports the move by OCC to approve licenses for multiple crypto companies and states that the lawsuit filed by the Independent Community Bankers of America ( ICBA ) is an attempt to stifle innovation.
On Monday, Ji Hun Kim stated that the litigation by ICBA is “an obvious attempt to resist national trust licenses, payment innovation, and competition in the financial services sector.” Despite some lawmakers accusing these exchanges of “seeking to evade regulation without assuming the basic safeguards and obligations that come with being a bank,” this crypto advocacy organization still supports OCC’s approval and conditional approval of national trust licenses for crypto companies.
ICBA filed a lawsuit with the United States District Court for the Federal District of Columbia last Friday, accusing OCC of approving U.S. bank licenses to entities, including crypto companies, without adequate safeguards and in violation of the requirements typically applicable to banks.
In a statement last Friday, Rebeca Romero Rainey, President and CEO of ICBA, stated: "The establishment of national trust licenses by Congress is not intended to allow crypto companies to gain the credibility that comes with federal bank licenses through backdoors into the banking system, without fulfilling the obligations of the Community Reinvestment Act, compliance with consolidated supervision, capital and liquidity standards, as well as the FDIC insurance requirements applicable to deposit-taking institutions."
During the tenure of U.S. President Donald Trump, OCC approved or conditionally approved applications including World Liberty Financial, Circle, Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo, and Paxos.
Many members of parliament criticized the approval of World Liberty. This approval was made under the leadership of OCC's head, Jonathan Gould. Gould was nominated by Trump and has held the position since July 2025. Members of the Trump family co-founded this cryptocurrency company, which is also under investigation for alleged connections with the royal family of the United Arab Emirates.
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