- The OCC said some banks restricted services for digital asset activities alongside other industries.
- The report did not provide specific examples of debanking tied to crypto activities.
- The review covered nine major banks and cited an August 2025 executive order.
A new report from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency placed crypto debanking among the activities that influenced some banks to limit financial services. Released Wednesday, the report said certain banks used public and nonpublic policies to restrict services across several sectors, including digital assets, oil and gas, tobacco and firearms. The agency said the work followed an August 2025 executive order from US President Donald Trump aimed at preventing what he described as unlawful debanking. Even so, the OCC said it could not fully measure the extent of debanking claims after reviewing nine major banks, and the report did not list specific crypto-related cases.
OCC report details on crypto debanking
The OCC said many institutions imposed limits on banking digital asset activities, including services involving issuers, exchanges or administrators. According to the regulator, these restrictions were often linked to financial crime considerations. The report grouped digital assets with several other industries that banks had flagged in their service policies.
The agency said certain banks maintained both public and nonpublic policies that reduced access to financial services for sectors such as oil and gas, tobacco, firearms and digital assets. By placing crypto debanking in that list, the report identified digital asset activity as one of the areas that shaped bank decisions on customer access.
Limits of the crypto debanking review
Although the report addressed crypto debanking, it did not include concrete examples involving digital asset firms or activities. The OCC said it had been unable to quantify on a comprehensive basis the full extent of debanking or alleged debanking actions after its review of nine major banks.
That limitation left the report without case-by-case evidence tied to crypto. While digital assets were explicitly mentioned, the OCC stopped short of detailing which firms were affected, how restrictions were applied, or how often such actions took place across the banks under review.
Industry claims and the policy backdrop
In November 2024, more than 30 tech and crypto executives said they had been denied access to banking services. Within the crypto industry, many unofficially referred to the alleged effort as Operation Chokepoint 2.0, echoing the Obama-era initiative aimed at fighting fraud and money laundering facilitated by banks.
The August 2025 executive order from Trump came after repeated industry claims that the US government under former President Joe Biden may have influenced financial institutions to cut off crypto firms from certain services. The OCC said its report was prepared in accordance with that executive order.
Focus from the OCC leadership
Jonathan Gould, the head of the OCC, mainly highlighted the report’s findings on debanking related to coal and firearms rather than digital assets. In remarks cited in the report, he said decisions connected to coal were not based on financial risk.
Instead, Gould said banks pointed to concerns about negative headlines, public protests and perceived reputational consequences tied to supporting the industry. While those comments did not focus on crypto debanking directly, they showed how the report framed some bank decisions around reputational issues rather than risk alone.
Conclusion
The OCC report added an official reference to crypto debanking by stating that some banks restricted services tied to digital asset activities, including work involving issuers, exchanges and administrators. At the same time, the agency said it could not comprehensively measure the scale of debanking claims and provided no specific crypto examples from its review of nine major banks. The report also sits within a broader political and industry debate that includes November 2024 complaints from more than 30 tech and crypto executives and an August 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump focused on what he called unlawful debanking
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