How did US bank regulators change their approach to crypto?

Who the regulators are

The US has three federal bank regulators: the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).^1,5 The OCC supervises national banks.³ The Fed supervises state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System.⁵ The FDIC supervises state banks that are not members, as Signature Bank was.⁷

2021 to 2023: notify us first

Each regulator set up a process before a bank could start crypto activities:¹

• November 2021, OCC: Interpretive Letter 1179 required national banks to get supervisory non-objection first.^1,3
• April 2022, FDIC: banks it supervises had to notify the FDIC first (FIL-16-2022).^1,4
• August 2022, Federal Reserve: banks it supervises were expected to give advance notice (SR 22-6).^1,5

Then came two joint statements:^1,2

• 3 January 2023: the agencies said holding crypto issued on open, public networks as principal was "highly likely to be inconsistent with safe and sound banking practices". They also had significant concerns about business models concentrated in crypto.¹
• 23 February 2023: the agencies described the liquidity risks of crypto-related deposits, covered in lesson 3.²

In 2023 the Fed also set up a programme to supervise banks' crypto and fintech activities, and a policy that limited the banks it supervises to activities allowed for banks under the other regulators.^8,9

2025: the guidance is withdrawn

• 5 February 2025, FDIC: released 175 documents about its supervision of banks' crypto activities, including "pause" letters (see lesson 3).¹⁰
• 7 March 2025, OCC: Interpretive Letter 1183 said crypto custody, certain stablecoin activities and running nodes on blockchain networks are allowed for national banks. It removed the need for prior non-objection, and the OCC withdrew from the two joint statements.³
• 28 March 2025, FDIC: FIL-7-2025 replaced FIL-16-2022. Banks it supervises may do allowed crypto activities without prior FDIC approval, if they manage the risks.⁴
• 24 April 2025, Federal Reserve: withdrew its 2022 notice expectation and a 2023 letter on dollar tokens. The Fed and the FDIC joined the OCC in withdrawing from the joint statements.⁵
• 7 May 2025, OCC: Interpretive Letter 1184 said banks may buy and sell crypto held in custody at the customer's direction, and may outsource crypto custody and trading to other firms.¹¹
• 15 August 2025, Federal Reserve: ended its special programme for crypto and fintech activities. They are now supervised in the normal way.⁸

Late 2025 and 2026: further steps

• 18 November 2025, OCC: a national bank may pay blockchain network fees, such as gas, and hold the crypto it needs to pay them.¹²
• 9 December 2025, OCC: Interpretive Letter 1188 said a national bank may do "riskless principal" crypto trades. The bank acts as a go-between, buying from one customer and selling to another at once, without holding the crypto as inventory.¹³
• 12 December 2025, OCC: conditionally approved five national trust bank charters, including Ripple National Trust Bank, BitGo Bank & Trust, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos Trust Company.¹⁴
• 17 December 2025, Federal Reserve: withdrew its 2023 policy that limited the activities of banks it supervises, and issued a new one.⁹
• 20 May 2026, Federal Reserve: asked for public comments on a limited "payment account" (see lesson 1).¹⁵

Reputation risk

Reputation risk is the worry that something could hurt how the public sees a bank. The OCC and FDIC define it as risk to public perception "for reasons not clearly and directly related" to a bank's financial or operational condition.⁶ An August 2025 executive order said regulators had pushed banks to drop customers in lawful industries that regulators disfavored.¹⁶

• 23 June 2025: the Fed said reputational risk would no longer be part of its bank exams.¹⁷
• 7 August 2025: the executive order said "banking decisions must instead be made on the basis of individualized, objective, and risk-based analyses", and told bank regulators to remove reputation risk from their guidance.¹⁶
• 23 February 2026: the Fed asked for comments on a proposal to write its June 2025 change into its rules.^18,17
• 7 April 2026: the OCC and FDIC issued a final rule that bars them from criticising or acting against a bank on the basis of reputation risk. It took effect on 9 June 2026.^6,19

The final rule also bars the two agencies from pushing banks to close accounts "solely on the basis of politically disfavored but lawful business activities perceived to present reputation risk".⁶ Some commenters had asked the agencies to reform reputation risk rather than remove it.¹⁹

What did not change

• Banks must still run any crypto activity safely and soundly, and follow the law.^11,12,4
• The reputation risk rule puts no new duties on banks themselves.⁶ The Fed said its change was not meant to affect how banks use reputational risk in their own risk management.¹⁷
• FDIC deposit insurance still does not cover crypto assets.²⁰