America's largest banking lobby is telling the country's top bank regulator to pump the brakes on crypto charter applications, warning that approving new digital asset firms before Congress finishes writing the rules they would operate under poses risks to the financial system.
"Once these firms get Fed access and national licensing, we will be talking about skipping the whole middle layer—no SWIFT, no correspondent chains, just native, regulated settlement, Anthony Agoshkov, co-founder of Marvel Capital, told Decrypt.
“That’s a structural leap, and it puts crypto one step closer to being embedded in the financial stack — inside the system, with full credibility,” Agoshkov added.
The ABA criticized the OCC's recent practice of conditioning charter approvals on applicants' compliance with the GENIUS Act, a law whose "full regulatory implementation is likely years away" and still requires five agencies to complete their own rulemakings, according to the association.
The banking lobby urged the OCC to "be patient, not measure its application decisioning progress against traditional timelines, and allow each charter applicant's regulatory responsibilities to come fully into view before moving a charter application forward."
The ABA urged the regulator to "ensure that its receivership capacities and related powers and practices are adequate to address any insolvency risks raised by any existing or new OCC charter applicant."
It also pushed to bar non-bank trust companies from using the word "bank,” a step it said would ensure institutions do not carry "a title that misrepresents the nature of the institution or the services it offers."
That pressure has spilled directly into the crypto market structure bill, where the same stablecoin yield fight brought negotiations to a halt.
