US OCC Chief Speaks Out: Crypto Companies Applying for Bank Licenses Should Not Be Discriminated Against, New Rules Needed in the Blockchain Era

[Chain News] Jonathan Gould, the head of the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), recently dropped a bombshell at a blockchain conference—crypto companies seeking federal banking licenses should no longer be treated differently.

His logic is straightforward: digital asset custody is essentially just electronic safekeeping services, something traditional banks have been doing for decades. Why should it be seen differently when it comes to blockchain? When fintech companies apply for a national trust bank license, they’re essentially running new businesses within the existing framework, so there’s no need to confine the banking industry to last-generation technology.

Gould also emphasized that the banking system is fully capable of leaping from the telegraph era to the blockchain era. The data is interesting too—just this year, the OCC has received 14 new bank charter applications, several of them from digital asset companies, a number nearly equal to the total over the past four years.

The core of his viewpoint boils down to this: if you want to use licensing to help the banking industry keep pace with modern finance and better serve the real economy, you need to provide digital asset-related companies with a legitimate federal regulatory pathway—stop holding them back with outdated rules.