Banks Ease Digital Asset Restrictions, But Judgment Remains

The OCC Report

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released a report on October 14, 2025, revealing widespread restrictions on digital asset issuers, exchanges, and administrators by the nine largest national banks.

The Scope of the Review

The OCC examined nearly 100,000 complaints and about 420,000 pages of bank documents to review how these institutions treated digital asset businesses from 2020 through September 2025.

The Core Finding

Over that period, these banks put restrictive policies in place that limited the services available to digital asset entities. The main stated driver was concern about financial crime, particularly anti-money laundering risk.

The OCC's Response

Comptroller Jonathan Gould indicated that many of the restrictive policies were shaped more by reputational risk than by genuine financial considerations.

The Shift in Banks' Policies

Many of the banks have started relaxing these restrictions as part of internal policy reviews. Those reviews reach across multiple industries, not just digital assets.

The Broader Context

The report did not appear in a vacuum. It follows President Trump's August 2025 executive order aimed at addressing unlawful debanking practices.

The OCC's Regulatory Changes

Since March 2025, the agency has issued a series of interpretive letters clarifying what banks are allowed to do with digital assets.

The Takeaways

For digital asset businesses, the most practical takeaway is that the largest US banks are loosening their stance. However, the OCC's own language leaves room for continued rejections. Banks still may restrict some digital asset businesses, and financial crime concerns remain a legitimate basis for doing so.