In brief

• The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC in D.C. federal court, challenging its authority to grant national trust bank charters to crypto firms and asking the court to void a March 2026 rule and Interpretive Letter No. 1176.
• CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said the charters let crypto companies gain a federal bank’s credibility without obligations like FDIC insurance, capital standards and the Community Reinvestment Act; the suit also seeks to vacate Protego’s conditional charter.
• It escalates an ongoing fight as firms like Circle, Ripple, Kraken’s parent and Trump-tied World Liberty pursue OCC charters.