Crypto industry group The Digital Chamber rejected accusations from Sen. Elizabeth Warren that crypto firms were "improperly" granted national trust charters and pose risks to the financial system.
In a letter on Tuesday sent to the Comptroller of the Currency, Jonathan Gould, The Digital Chamber [TDC] said that the Democratic Senator got it wrong in her letter last week to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
In that letter, Warren said that several recently granted approvals, including digital asset firms Ripple, Circle, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo, and Coinbase, violated the National Bank Act — a longstanding law that set a framework for nationally chartered banks — and that they are not following the same standards as traditional banks.
TDC, which represents more than 250 crypto-related entities, rejected that argument.
"The characterization of these approvals as 'apparent violations' of the National Bank Act misreads both the statute and the OCC's longstanding charter authority," said TDC CEO Cody Carbone in the letter.
A growing number of crypto firms have sought OCC approval to operate as federally regulated trust banks in the U.S. Last year, the OCC conditionally approved Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. If they get final approvals, they would be able to hold customers' assets, but wouldn't be able to accept cash deposits or make loans.
This comes as traditional finance and crypto have butted heads over a number of issues, including applying for federal bank charters and the treatment of stablecoin rewards. The latter became a major sticking point that has since been ironed out among lawmakers in advancing sweeping crypto legislation.
Warren said that companies seeking a federal charter "appear to have been organized in response" to a law passed last summer that seeks to regulate stablecoins, called the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, or GENIUS, adding that the new law doesn't change the National Bank Act.
TDC's Carbone said Warren is mischaracterizing.
"It would be deeply incongruous for Congress, on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, to establish a new category of federally regulated stablecoin issuer while the OCC stood by and declined to exercise its chartering authority," Carbone said.
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