The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the top U.S. banking regulator, published an interpretive letter on Monday clarifying that national banks and federal savings associations can participate in independent node verification networks (INVN) and use stablecoins to conduct payment activities and other bank-permissible functions. The OCC supervises nearly 1,200 national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches of foreign banks that conduct approximately 70% of all banking business in the U.S.
Key Points of the OCC Letter
Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks stated, “While other countries have built real-time payments systems, the U.S. has relied on our innovation sector to deliver real-time payments technologies. Some of those technologies are built by bank consortia, others are based on independent node verification networks such as blockchains.” He added that the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets recently articulated a framework for stablecoin-based infrastructure. “Our letter removes any legal uncertainty about banks connecting to blockchains as validator nodes and transacting stablecoin payments on behalf of customers.”
The letter concludes that a bank may validate, store, and record payments as a node on an INVN, and may use INVNs and stablecoins for other permissible payment activities, subject to safe and sound banking practices.
Industry Reactions
The crypto community widely welcomed the clarification. Dan Held, growth lead at Kraken, commented, “The OCC will allow U.S. banks to use public blockchains and stablecoins as settlement infrastructure. This is huge for Bitcoin. As an immutable store of value, it already settles over a trillion dollars annually.”
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire called it “a huge win for crypto,” explaining that the letter establishes public chains as infrastructure similar to SWIFT, ACH, and Fedwire, and stablecoins like USDC as electronic stored value. “The significance cannot be understated. Decentralized, permissionless, open-source software is becoming the foundation for the U.S. financial system and the global economy. It sets the stage for regulated institutions to run blockchain nodes and become validators.”
Impact on the Crypto Ecosystem
The OCC letter marks a major shift in U.S. regulatory stance. Previously, legal uncertainty hindered banks from adopting public blockchains and stablecoins. Now, with explicit authorization, more banks are expected to explore blockchain payments, stablecoin settlements, and related services. Centralized stablecoins like USDC gain a compliance gateway, likely accelerating their integration into traditional finance.
Analysts note that Bitcoin benefits indirectly as its role as a settlement layer gains recognition. With banks joining public networks as validator nodes, network security and decentralization could improve further.