The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted Coinbase (COIN) conditional approval for its National Trust Bank charter, a move that would place the cryptocurrency exchange among a small group of five digital asset companies — including Ripple and Circle (CRCL) — that have received similar preliminary approvals from the agency.
Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, told CNBC that if the charter is finalized, Coinbase will be able to expand beyond custodial services to offer payment products and other infrastructure under federal supervision.
Coinbase is looking to expand its US payments portfolio
While he was doing it interviewGrewal said the approval opens the door for Coinbase to develop a wide range of services in the US, particularly in the payments space:
In the longer term, we will be able to explore, with OCC, offering not only custody products but also other infrastructure products, especially around payments, which we believe will expand and expand cryptocurrency payments in all kinds of new, interesting and important directions.
However, the decision has been reignited cash Of traditional banking stakeholders. The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) responded with a letter opposing the OCC’s conditional approval of Coinbase National Trust Co., the subsidiary mentioned in the application.
Rebecca Romero-Rene, ICBA’s president and CEO, called the approval a “huge mistake” that, in the group’s view, would put American consumers at risk.
ICBA letter It alleges that the application contains significant flaws — including inadequate risk controls, unclear profitability prospects, and unresolved decision risks — and argues that Coinbase’s submission fails to meet requirements set by the National Bank Act and OCC’s own regulations.
IBCA calls on OCC to rewrite National Trust Bank rule
The trade group warned of the influx Charter applications of non-bank entities indicates that companies are seeking the benefits of a Federal Reserve Bank charter without being subject to the full range of banking regulatory safeguards.
The Independent Community Bankers of America claim this could undermine consumer protection and threaten the broader stability of the financial system. Furthermore, ICBA was also intended to finalize the FCC’s final rule on the charter of national trust banks.
The trade group objects to the OCC’s plan to create unsecured national trust banks that can carry out non-credit operations. Cryptography related business Without being subject to the Bank Holding Company Act or prudential requirements applicable to FDIC-insured institutions.
In its letter, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture reiterated its calls for the OCC to withdraw the rule or reissue a revised proposal consistent with the agency’s statutory authority and long-standing legal precedent.
Despite the conditional approval from the OCC, Coinbase stock, which trades under the ticker name COIN, was trading at $171 at the time of writing and saw little change compared to Wednesday’s trading session.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
