OCC Confirms National Banks Can Intermediate Crypto-Asset Transactions

On December 9, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) confirmed that national banks can intermediate riskless principal crypto-asset transactions on behalf of their customers, consistent with the Trump administration's push to open traditional banking to such assets. A riskless principal transaction is when an intermediary purchases an asset from one counterparty for immediate resale to a second counterparty. The intermediary never holds the asset in inventory other than in the case of a settlement default. The OCC noted that national banks have long engaged in analogous transactions via securities conduit lending and derivatives intermediation in determining that national banks can intermediate riskless principal crypto-asset transactions.

OCC Confirms Bank Authority to Engage in Riskless Principal Crypto-Asset Transactions | OCC