United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issues statement on congressional digital asset debanking report and highlights steps to remove reputation risk

The United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a statement responding to a U.S. House Financial Services Committee majority staff report titled “Operation Chokepoint 2.0: Biden’s Debanking of Digital Assets.” Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould argued that the report shows the Biden Administration’s actions discouraged and prevented regulated banks from engaging with digital assets. The statement pointed to measures the agency has taken to increase transparency around the prior requirement for non-supervisory objection before a national bank could engage in digital asset activities under Interpretive Letter 1179, including publication of each formal bank request and the OCC’s response. It also noted that the OCC has removed references to reputation risk from its handbooks and guidance documents and, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, proposed codifying the elimination of reputation risk from supervisory programs. Consistent with the President’s Executive Order on Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans, the OCC said it is continuing an investigation into the role of the largest banks in debanking digital asset customers or other legal businesses. The agency indicated it intends to hold banks accountable for any unlawful debanking it identifies and to ensure OCC-supervised institutions provide access to financial services based on individualized, objective and risk-based analyses.