A Landmark Shift in U.S. Banking Policy
The U.S. Treasury Department has taken a transformative step by confirming that national banks can officially hold cryptocurrency in limited, defined scenarios. The announcement came through a new interpretive letter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), marking a major reversal from the agency’s more restrictive stance in previous years. The OCC made it clear that banks may keep digital assets on their balance sheets when those assets are needed to support “otherwise permissible” banking activities, including paying blockchain network fees.
The regulator emphasized that the move is not a free-for-all, but rather a targeted update intended to modernize banking workflows.
Banks Can Use Crypto for Gas Fees and Testing
According to the OCC, national banks can now use crypto to pay gas fees required to transact on public blockchains. This brings clarity to a longstanding gray area, as institutions increasingly explore blockchain use cases but previously lacked explicit approval to acquire the crypto needed to operate those systems. The OCC also confirmed that banks may hold digital assets for the specific purpose of testing blockchain-based platforms, allowing them to build, sandbox, and experiment with decentralized technologies without violating federal rules.
This marks a significant evolution from the regulatory landscape under the Biden administration, when the OCC warned that banks needed explicit approval before engaging in nearly any crypto-related activity. That cautious approach, reflected across agencies like the FDIC, discouraged banks from interacting with public, permissionless networks such as Ethereum.
Trump Administration Continues Pro-Crypto Push
Under the current Trump administration, the OCC has aggressively dismantled those earlier constraints. In March, the agency overturned the Biden-era policy requiring banks to seek permission before offering crypto services. It also granted banks the ability to custody digital assets, and loosened rules around stablecoin-related operations. Today’s announcement builds on that momentum by granting explicit permission for banks to hold crypto themselves, rather than relying on external providers.
The pivot signals a broader shift in America’s regulatory philosophy toward viewing crypto as an infrastructure tool rather than a speculative liability. The OCC framed the policy as a logical modernization of existing banking authority rather than a radical regulatory experiment.
A Path Toward On-Chain Banking
This approval could pave the way for a new generation of on-chain banking services, including settlement, payments, and asset management that rely on public blockchains. With the ability to directly hold crypto, major banks could gradually shift pieces of their operational workflows onto decentralized networks. While the OCC stressed that banks must still follow risk controls and compliance standards, the policy undeniably brings the U.S. closer to a world where crypto is woven into traditional banking operations.
The announcement signals to Wall Street that Washington is preparing the regulatory foundation necessary for deeper institutional involvement in crypto. It also highlights a growing recognition that blockchains are no longer peripheral technologies but potential components of the future financial system.
