TL;DR:
- The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit against the OCC on October 2, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
- The legal challenge seeks to invalidate the March 2026 final rule, Interpretive Letter 1176, and the conditional approval granted to Protego Holdings Corp.
- In February 2026, the regulatory agency granted national trust charters to firms including Stripe (Bridge National Trust Bank), Protego, and Crypto.com’s Foris DAX.
The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) trade association filed a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to halt crypto bank charter rules that allow non-depository trust entities to operate under national banking charters.
The legal action directly challenges the agency’s March 2026 final regulatory rule, the 2021 Interpretive Letter No. 1176, and the conditional charter approval granted to Protego Holdings Corp.
The trade group contends in its filing that the OCC exceeded the statutory authority granted by the National Bank Act. According to the argument presented by the ICBA in court records, the statutory framework does not permit granting federal charters to corporations that forgo deposit-taking and do not primarily conduct core fiduciary custody activities.
The technical origin of the dispute traces back to Interpretive Letter 1176 in 2021. Through that guidance, the OCC determined that national trust banks are not confined solely to traditional fiduciary operations, allowing them to engage in non-fiduciary activities expressly permitted under federal banking law.
In January 2026, the regulator published a formal proposal to codify this administrative track, culminating in the March 2026 final rule.
The ICBA formally asked the District of Columbia court to declare these regulatory actions unlawful and set them aside entirely. According to the plaintiffs, an expansion of this magnitude required stricter review and adherence to the boundaries established by the U.S. Congress.
Legal Dispute Over the Scope of National Trust Charters
During February 2026, the OCC granted conditional national trust bank charters to Stripe’s Bridge National Trust Bank, Crypto.com’s Foris DAX, and a subsidiary of Protego Holdings. These approvals followed earlier or concurrent applications from companies including Payward, Circle, and Ripple.
The community bankers’ court filings emphasize that these entities operate outside the standards applied to insured commercial banks. Non-depository national trust institutions lack coverage from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
The ICBA argues that this divergence creates a harmful regulatory imbalance compared to traditional lenders, which must comply with strict capital mandates, liquidity ratios, prudential supervision, and the Community Reinvestment Act.
According to the complaint, permitting custody, brokerage, and lending operations under this framework creates consumer protection gaps regarding market volatility, fraud, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
Scrutiny of the OCC’s chartering approach is not limited to community lenders. In May 2026, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned the authorizations issued by the agency to at least nine digital asset companies, arguing these firms may be executing commercial operations well beyond the boundaries of the National Bank Act.
Similarly, the Bank Policy Institute, representing large U.S. commercial lenders, reviewed potential coordinated litigation against the OCC on identical grounds in March 2026.
The proceeding against Protego Holdings serves as a core focus of the lawsuit. The ICBA challenged the non-fiduciary activities integrated into Protego’s business plan and cited alleged corporate governance shortcomings. These assertions reflect arguments raised by the plaintiff rather than findings entered by the court.
The procedural calendar projects that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will issue preliminary rulings regarding the lawsuit’s viability under the Administrative Procedure Act over the coming months.
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