Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY—OCC eliminates supervisory non-objection to certain crypto activities, (Mar 10, 2025)

By Justin Marcus Smith, J.D.

The OCC removed the supervisory non-objection requirement while re-affirming that national banks may provide digital asset products and services.

The Office of Comptroller of the Currency has issued an Interpretive Letter reaffirming that crypto-asset activities discussed in prior interpretive letters are permissible while dropping the earlier supervisory non-objection requirement (OCC Bulletin 2025-2; Interpretive Letter 1183 (March 2025)). The OCC said growing OCC staff expertise with crypto-asset activities meant the non-objection requirement was no longer necessary. Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney E. Hood emphasized in an accompanying news release, however, that banks will still need to have strong risk controls.

Reaffirmed activities. Reaffirmed permissible activities include:

• crypto-asset custody services;

• holding of dollar deposits as reserves backing stablecoins in certain circumstances;

• participation in distributed ledgers (“independent node verification networks”) to verify customer payments;

• engaging in certain stablecoin activities to facilitate payment transactions on a distributed ledger.

Growing expertise. The OCC said it was able to drop the non-objection requirement based on growing OCC staff knowledge and expertise pertinent to crypto-asset activities. It said the increased supervisory experience meant Interpretive Letter 1179 was no longer necessary.

Interagency withdrawals. The OCC’s new interpretive letter also announced OCC withdrawal from participation in two interagency statements as they apply to national banks and federal savings associations: 1) the January 3, 2023 “Joint Statement on Crypto-Asset Risks to Banking Organizations” (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Jan. 4, 2023); and, 2) the February 23, 2023 “Joint Statement on Liquidity Risks to Banking Organizations Resulting from Crypto-Asset Market Vulnerabilities” (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Feb. 23, 2023).

Rescinded bulletins. OCC Bulletin 2025-2 also explicitly rescinded OCC Bulletin 2021-57 (November 23, 2021) that transmitted rescinded Interpretive Letter 1179 (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Nov. 29, 2021); and, OCC Bulletin 2023-1 (January 3, 2023) and OCC Bulletin 2023-8 (February 23, 2023) that transmitted the interagency statements.

Acting Comptroller statement. In the news release, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney E. Hood said the OCC “expects banks to have the same strong risk management controls in place to support novel bank activities as they do for traditional ones.” He continued that the OCC aims for consistent and effective treatment that is not excessive “regardless of the underlying technology.”

ABA reaction. The American Bankers Association (ABA) expressed enthusiasm that the OCC is enabling banks to succeed through adoption of digital asset technologies. ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols said the ABA applauded removal of the supervisory non-objection requirement. Nichols also said that the OCC had taken an “important step” toward helping traditional financial markets adopt digital asset technology successfully.

Other varying viewpoints. Coinbase had advocated for rescission of Interpretive Letter 1179 in early February because, in its view, the non-objection requirement was a “de facto application for novel bank activities” that did not comply with rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Feb. 5, 2025).

Various senators, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R,I.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have been expressing concern about the potential risks of “problematic” crypto activities (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Aug. 11, 2022).

In response to those senators’ 2022 letter, the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) and the ABA advocated for a consistent and comprehensive approach to crypto regulation (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Aug. 29, 2022).

Companies: American Bankers Association; Bank Policy Institute; Coinbase

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