Crypto Advocacy CEO Defends OCC Against Banking Group Lawsuit

The Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) has backed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC’s) move to approve several charters for crypto companies, saying a lawsuit filed by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) was an attempt to stifle innovation. 

On Monday, CCI CEO Ji Hun Kim said that the ICBA lawsuit was a “clear attempt to resist national trust charters, payments innovation, and competition in financial services.” The crypto advocacy organization supported the OCC’s approvals and conditional approvals of crypto companies for national trust charters, despite accusations from some lawmakers that exchanges “want to evade the fundamental safeguards and obligations that come with being a bank.”

The ICBA legal action, filed on Friday in the US District ​Court for the District of Columbia, alleged that the OCC approved US bank charters for entities, including crypto companies, without sufficient safeguards or compliance with requirements normally used for banks.

“Congress did not create the national trust charter as a side door into the banking system for crypto firms seeking the credibility of a federal bank charter without the Community Reinvestment Act obligations, consolidated supervision, capital and liquidity standards, and FDIC insurance that apply to insured depository institutions,” said ICBA president and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey in a Friday statement.

Among the applications the OCC has approved or conditionally approved under US President Donald Trump were those from World Liberty Financial, Circle, Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo and Paxos. 

Many lawmakers criticized the World Liberty approval, which came under the leadership of OCC head Jonathan Gould, a Trump pick who has served since July 2025. Members of the Trump family co-founded the crypto company, which has been the target of probes over alleged ties to the royal families of the United Arab Emirates.

Related: Bastion wins conditional OCC approval for national trust bank charter

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