America’s community banks are taking the nation’s top banking regulator to court over its practice of handing bank charters to cryptocurrency companies, arguing the agency has blown past the limits Congress set.

The Independent Community Bankers of America filed suit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, challenging its authority to charter national trust banks for crypto firms. The complaint, brought under the Administrative Procedure Act, centers on a March 2, 2026 final rule tied to the OCC’s Interpretive Letter No. 1176 and asks the court to declare both unlawful.