Rain Seeks US Bank Charter Amid OCC Crypto Lawsuit

Crypto Firm Rain Seeks National Trust Bank Charter Amidst Industry Push and Banking Opposition

Stablecoin payments infrastructure provider Rain has filed an application to establish a national trust bank headquartered in New York, joining a growing cohort of cryptocurrency companies pursuing federal bank charters over the past year.

The company announced Monday that it submitted the application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for Rain National Trust Bank. If approved, the institution would be authorized to offer fiduciary custody of digital assets and U.S. dollars to institutional clients, manage reserves for approved stablecoin issuers, and handle the issuance and redemption of dollar-backed stablecoins, in line with the GENIUS Act.

Brandon Soto, former chief financial officer of Square Financial Services, is slated to serve as president and CEO of the proposed national trust bank, pending OCC review.

“The institutions building on Rain want the assets behind their programs held by a fiduciary that answers to a federal regulator,” stated Rain CEO and co-founder Farooq Malik.

Rain’s move follows similar applications from other crypto and payments firms seeking national trust bank charters. Payments infrastructure company Modern Treasury also revealed on Monday that it had submitted its own application, aiming to provide digital asset custody and related fiat services.

Community Banks Challenge OCC Rules

However, this trend has encountered significant opposition from community banks. On Friday, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit against the OCC, asserting that the regulator overstepped its authority by permitting non-depository trust banks to engage in extensive non-fiduciary activities.

The lawsuit, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, names the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould as defendants.

The ICBA contends that the OCC’s final rule on National Bank Chartering and its 2021 interpretive letter 1176 “perversely allow entities engaged in highly risky cryptocurrency and digital assets activities to enter the banking system under lightly regulated national charters rather than the more rigorously regulated traditional bank charter.”

The ICBA argues that this framework grants crypto trust banks a competitive edge by enabling them to offer services that overlap with those of community banks, without adhering to the same regulatory obligations. The group also raised concerns that consumers might misinterpret the “national bank” designation as a guarantee of federal deposit insurance for their assets.

The ICBA is seeking a court order to overturn the OCC’s March 2026 chartering rule and the 2021 interpretive letter, and to halt any further charter approvals based on these regulations.

On Monday, the Crypto Council for Innovation characterized the lawsuit as an effort to “stifle innovation.”

According to the ICBA’s complaint, the OCC has already approved or conditionally approved at least 21 trust banks, with a significant portion, at least 13, being cryptocurrency companies.