U.S. regulators advance crypto trust charters as Senate scrutiny intensifies
U.S. federal regulators are widening the legal routes for crypto firms to operate under national rules even as Senate investigators press for the records behind those decisions, including how trust charters were justified, how companies handled compliance, and any dealings with people tied to President Donald Trump’s administration. On Nov. 9, Coinbase said its national trust company had received final Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approval to open, after preliminary conditional approval in April; the company described the charter as giving its custody business a consistent federal framework.
That clearance landed amid existing scrutiny of how regulators have used current authority to expand crypto companies’ reach. In a May 18 letter to the OCC, Sen. Elizabeth Warren challenged at least nine crypto trust-charter approvals, including Coinbase’s earlier conditional approval, and asked for the applications, the legal analyses supporting the approvals, and any related communications between OCC officials and the White House or Trump family.
Separately, four days before Coinbase’s announcement, Sen. Richard Blumenthal renewed demands for records from Binance, Tether and two Trump-linked ventures. He set a Jan. 4, 2027 deadline for voluntary production and warned that his subcommittee could take further steps if the records are not turned over.
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