The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on October 2, challenging the federal charter pathway used by cryptocurrency trust businesses. The complaint specifically targets Protego’s conditional approval alongside the OCC’s March 2026 chartering rule and a 2021 interpretive letter. Filed in Washington, the action places the legal foundation for certain national trust charters before a federal court, rather than merely objecting to them through consultation comments.

ICBA argues that the National Bank Act does not authorize the OCC to charter trust banks conducting the range of non-fiduciary activities allowed under the challenged policy. It also alleges procedural and administrative-law defects in the rule and interpretive letter. The group seeks to have the measures and Protego’s approval vacated. These are the plaintiffs’ legal claims; the filing does not itself cancel Protego’s approval or determine the regulator’s statutory authority.

The dispute matters because a national trust charter can create a federal supervisory framework for custody and related digital asset functions. A trust business differs from a conventional deposit-taking bank, with its permissions and obligations determined by the charter and applicable law. The case therefore concerns how the boundaries of those activities are defined, and whether the regulator used a legally valid process to establish the pathway now being used by applicants.

For Protego, the complaint singles out its conditional approval as a requested remedy. For other crypto businesses pursuing charters, the broader issue is whether the rules supporting similar applications remain in place. The next material developments are the OCC’s response and any court orders addressing the challenged actions. Until those decisions occur, the October filing establishes an active legal dispute rather than a completed reversal of the crypto trust charter framework.