Acting Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould has flipped the script on how banks can work with digital assets. Instead of forcing banks to ask permission before touching crypto—a policy put in place back in 2021—his office now says these activities are allowed unless there’s a specific rule against them. It’s a subtle change on paper, but the impact is huge.
Big blockchain companies like Ripple and Crypto.com are now being encouraged to apply for full national bank charters. That would give them direct access to the Federal Reserve’s payment systems—FedNow and Fedwire—the same infrastructure traditional banks use to move money instantly. Some insiders in Washington are calling this the biggest regulatory shift since Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999. Others are using the term “Chokepoint 2.0” to describe the restrictive era that just ended.
Gould’s office argues that bringing payment-tech companies into the regulated banking system will modernize how money moves and pull dollar liquidity back from offshore crypto markets that have been operating with clearer rules. But critics worry that letting new players avoid the strict capital requirements that traditional banks face could create instability, especially among smaller regional banks. A turf war between old-school lenders and crypto-native banks seems inevitable.
Wall Street Is Starting to Take Crypto Seriously
For years, institutional investors have pointed to two big problems: they didn’t have reliable ways to move dollars in and out of crypto, and they couldn’t get FDIC-level protection for their holdings. By clearing the path for crypto firms to become national banks, the OCC just solved both problems at once.
Now, treasury desks at major firms can imagine tokenized repurchase agreements settling in real time over Fedwire. Asset managers can feel confident knowing their stablecoin reserves might qualify for deposit insurance. Options traders in Chicago have noticed something interesting—quotes on long-dated Bitcoin volatility contracts have tightened by almost thirty basis points since word of Gould’s policy change leaked. That suggests liquidity providers expect much bigger players to jump in soon.
The CME Group has quietly raised block-trade limits on its Ether futures contracts, anticipating deeper markets. The political landscape matters too. After the 2024 midterms, more than two hundred lawmakers who support crypto innovation took their seats. Regulatory agencies now see doing nothing as riskier than acting. The uncertainty that kept sovereign wealth funds and large pension plans out of crypto is starting to fade, and capital markets are reacting in real time.
Stablecoins Could Reshape Banking
Research teams at several U.S. banks are now modeling a scenario where dollar-backed stablecoins grow ten times larger by 2030, potentially surpassing the entire money-market fund industry. The reason is straightforward: tokenized deposits offer instant liquidity without the fees that card networks charge. That’s extremely attractive to payment processors and payroll companies, even more so than earning yield.
Five mid-sized banks, sensing an existential threat, have already banded together to form something called the “Cari Network” to issue their own settlement tokens within the existing regulatory framework. But if crypto companies get national bank charters first, they could start pulling deposits away from traditional banks at scale. For every percentage point of U.S. demand deposits that moves on-chain, legacy banks could lose an estimated five billion dollars in net interest income.
It’s no surprise that the American Bankers Association is now lobbying Congress for legislation that would force new crypto banks to follow the same leverage and liquidity rules as everyone else. They’re calling it “activity and entity parity,” and the message is clear: if crypto firms want to play banker, they should have to follow banker rules.
What Happens Next
The policy change is official, but there are still several hurdles ahead. First, the Federal Reserve has to decide whether it will actually grant master accounts to newly chartered crypto banks. Without a master account, access to real-time settlement is just theoretical. Second, the Financial Stability Oversight Council is scheduled to review systemic-risk thresholds in September. They might recommend capital buffers for stablecoin issuers that grow beyond a certain size.
And finally, this is an election year. A budget bill moving through Congress could revive restrictive language if traditional banks manage to frame the issue as a safety concern. But for now, the momentum is undeniable. Wall Street’s wall against crypto isn’t just cracking—it’s being taken apart from the inside.
