The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) says banks restricted some digital asset businesses, but its latest report stops short of showing how widespread the problem was or naming specific crypto cases.
Institutions often cited financial crime concerns when limiting services to crypto firms, according to the report. The review also found that the restrictions were not limited to crypto, and that banks applied similar policies to other lawful industries.
What the OCC found
The OCC reviewed the nine largest national banks it supervises: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC, TD Bank and BMO. In a news release, the agency said all nine had policies that restricted or influenced access to financial services between 2020 and September 2025, based on political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities.
The OCC said the broad reputation risk policies lacked clear standards and objective, risk-based criteria. Digital assets were listed alongside sectors such as oil and gas, coal, firearms, private prisons and tobacco. Crypto news outlet Crypto.news reported that restrictions on digital asset issuers, exchanges and administrators were often linked to financial crime concerns.
Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould said the report provides evidence that large banks have debanked customers and lawful businesses. He added that the OCC will assess further changes to the regulatory and supervisory framework for the largest banks.
Why the crypto claims remain unproven
The 47-page document has clear limits. The OCC said it was unable to quantify on a comprehensive basis the full extent of debanking or alleged debanking actions. Cointelegraph reported that the report did not include specific examples of debanking related to crypto, and mentioned it alongside ties to oil, gas and firearms. The OCC also said the findings do not establish that every policy resulted in a customer being denied services, according to Crypto Times.
That gap matters for an industry that has long argued it was shut out of banking. Many in the crypto sector informally dubbed the alleged effort "Operation Chokepoint 2.0," Cointelegraph noted. More than 30 tech and crypto executives made similar complaints about being refused banking services in November 2024.
The review followed an executive order from President Donald Trump on fair access to banking. The OCC released preliminary findings in December 2025, and the final report adds the 2020 to September 2025 period. No penalties were announced, and the agency has pointed instead to possible regulatory changes.
The report confirms that restrictive policies existed, but it does not yet show how many crypto firms lost access to banking or how often. Without case-level evidence or an estimate of scale, the debate over crypto debanking is likely to continue.
Sources
OCC: Report on Large Banks' Debanking Activities
Cointelegraph: OCC report one year after Trump's debanking order
Crypto.news: OCC finds bank restrictions but cannot gauge full scale