The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) confirmed national banks may own a certain amount of crypto assets to pay network fees and to test digital asset platforms before launching them.
In a letter, the OCC articulated expectations around de minimis holdings, risk assessments, testing, and controls – giving banks a stable compliance foundation for digital-asset operations.
Banks may now hold only the amounts “reasonably necessary” to cover anticipated network-fee needs, and such holdings must remain de minimis relative to capital, fintech lawyer AJ Dhaliwal wrote in Forbes.
They can “now process transactions, reconcile internal wallets, and support tokenised transfers without relying on fee providers or waiting for customers to supply the required tokens. This reduces latency and operational friction.”
This access to native tokens also gives banks control of the final step in on-chain activity, making custody transfers, programmable payments, and blockchain-based settlement more predictable and resilient.
