More than half of the newest applications to establish a brand-new U.S. bank now involve digital assets. Of the 40 recent de novo bank-charter applications filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), 23 involve digital-asset firms — roughly 57% of the pipeline — a striking signal that crypto companies increasingly want a place inside the regulated banking system.

Why the OCC application mix matters

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is the U.S. regulator that charters and supervises national banks. A "de novo" charter application is a request to build a new bank from scratch rather than buy an existing one.

New-bank formation itself has been rare in the United States since the 2008 financial crisis, with only a small number of de novo charters approved nationwide in the years that followed. Against that backdrop, a 40-application pipeline of any kind is unusual — and the digital-asset share makes it more so.

The reported split — 23 of 40 applications touching digital assets, or roughly 57%, per an OCC news release — is a large share for a single industry in a single pipeline.

One important caveat: an application is a request, not an approval. The figures show what the application mix signals, not which banks will actually open their doors.

What this says about crypto firms pursuing regulated banking access

A national bank charter can give a company a direct route to regulated deposits, payments, custody, and settlement — infrastructure that many crypto firms have long relied on outside partners to provide.

Digital-asset companies have faced repeated pressure over banking access, counterparty risk, and regulatory credibility. That pressure has a concrete history: in 2023, Silvergate wound down voluntarily and New York regulators closed Signature Bank, two of the sector's main banking partners, while the Federal Reserve denied Wyoming-based Custodia Bank both membership and a master account. The exits left crypto firms with fewer dedicated banking partners.

Recent reporting has described how policy shifts are shaping this new wave of charter interest, as covered in a Banking Dive report on OCC leadership remarks.

Digital-asset involvement can mean many things in this context: custody, payments, stablecoin operations, or broader financial plumbing. On the custody side there is limited precedent — Anchorage Digital received a national trust charter from the OCC in 2021, though trust charters cover custody and fiduciary activities rather than the full deposit-taking powers of a national bank. Stablecoin issuers, meanwhile, now work under a federal rulebook after the GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, required payment-stablecoin issuers to be regulated entities. Some observers question how "bank-like" these firms really are — a tension explored in a CryptoSlate analysis of crypto banks.

The bigger picture: applying for a charter signals a move from the edge of finance toward the traditional banking framework. That is a harder, slower path than staying purely crypto-native, which is why the volume stands out.

The trend also fits a wider pattern of governments defining crypto's place in the financial system, from Nigeria's proposed capital floor for offshore platforms to new state-level crypto tax rules in the United States.

What to watch as these applications move forward

Application volume alone does not determine approval rates or launch dates; a crowded pipeline can still produce few new banks.

The signals that will matter next are concrete: approvals, denials, any conditions attached to a charter, and formal OCC guidance on digital-asset banking. Those outcomes will reveal how the regulator actually responds, not just how firms are positioning.

The distinction matters. Application momentum shows industry intent; regulatory acceptance shows whether that intent becomes real, supervised banks.

For individual holders, the pipeline changes nothing about existing holdings today, but it points toward a possible future in which more crypto activity runs through federally regulated banks. The OCC's approval decisions — not the application count — will show whether that future arrives.

The same regulatory momentum is visible elsewhere, including questions in Congress about crypto and ETFs.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital-asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.