A new report from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says some banks used both public and internal policies to limit services for certain industries, including parts of the digital asset sector. In the agency’s review, banks cited concerns around financial crime when restricting services for crypto issuers, exchanges and administrators.
The 47-page report places those findings within a wider federal review of alleged debanking practices. While the OCC said it identified limits affecting digital asset activities, it did not publish specific crypto case studies and said its review of nine major banks did not allow it to measure debanking across the banking system as a whole.
Report tied to Trump executive order
The OCC said the report was prepared in connection with an August 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at preventing what it described as unlawful debanking. The order followed broader political and industry complaints that lawful businesses had been denied or curtailed banking access for reasons unrelated to ordinary safety and soundness concerns.
Within that review, the regulator said some banks maintained policies that restricted or discouraged services for selected business categories. Digital asset activity was among the areas identified in the report.
Crypto services faced limits at some banks
According to the OCC, many institutions limited banking services tied to digital assets, including for issuers, exchanges and administrators. The report said those decisions were often framed around financial crime considerations.
At the same time, the agency did not offer named examples involving crypto firms or describe the exact services that were denied, reduced or conditioned. That leaves the report as a broad finding about internal bank behavior rather than a detailed public record of individual cases.
OCC says reputational fears drove decisions
The head of the OCC said the decisions it reviewed were not rooted in direct financial risk. Instead, the regulator said the restrictions were driven by fears of negative headlines, protests and other reputational consequences.
That distinction is central to the report’s conclusions. In the OCC’s account, the issue was not simply that banks viewed crypto-related customers as financially unsafe, but that some institutions were making access decisions based on how those relationships might be perceived publicly.
Findings echo earlier crypto debanking claims
The report arrives after repeated complaints from parts of the crypto industry that government pressure may have contributed to banks cutting off certain firms from basic services. Those accusations have often been grouped under the label Operation Chokepoint 2.0, a phrase used by critics to suggest informal pressure on banks serving digital asset businesses.
The OCC’s report does not settle every aspect of that debate. It says the agency could not comprehensively quantify debanking based on its review of nine major banks. The next confirmed step, for now, is the report itself: it formally records that the OCC found some service restrictions touching crypto activities and says reputational concerns, rather than financial risk, were a key factor in those decisions.
Source: cointelegraph.com