U.S. Banking Regulator Warns Wall Street on 'Debanking,' Claims Practices 'Unlawful'

• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates U.S. national banks, released a report on so-called "debanking" of industries including crypto, saying that Wall Street banks have been guilty and may be subject to punishment.
• The report comes as a response to President Donald Trump's executive order in August directing regulators to probe debanking.
• It's unclear what legal authority the OCC may cite to pursue cases against bankers who violate the agency's standards.

President Donald Trump's drive against U.S. debanking of controversial industries, such as digital assets, has led to a new report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that further confirms the past practice and warns of potential punishment for the banks allegedly involved.

The OCC is directing banks to heed President Donald Trump's executive order issued in August that called for a halt to debanking and to punish those who've unfairly severed legal customers from the banking system. Trump's order had demanded regulators probe for firms under their supervision that are guilty of debanking and go after them, "including levying fines, issuing consent decrees or imposing other disciplinary measures against any financial institution subject to the jurisdiction of such Federal banking regulator."

In the brief OCC report examining nine of the largest U.S. national banks, the OCC concluded that "between 2020 and 2023, the banks maintained public and nonpublic policies restricting certain industry sectors’ access to banking services, including by requiring escalated reviews and approvals before providing access to financial services." It said that some of the big banks erected more difficult entries for controversial or environmentally sensitive businesses, or on activity that was contrary to the bank's own values.

The banks — including financial giants JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America and Citrigroup Inc. — are highlighted with links to their own past public policies, especially on environmental issues.

"The OCC intends to hold these banks accountable for any unlawful debanking activities, including by making referrals to the attorney general," the report said, though it's unclear what specific laws the activity may have violated. While Trump's earlier executive order cited laws governing unfair competition in commerce, the first among them exempts banks. It also cited a law against unfair consumer practices.

But the report didn't make such citations, and an OCC spokesperson declined to comment when CoinDesk requested information on how legal breaches could be forwarded for prosecution.

At the very end of Trump's previous term, the OCC under his watch had quickly finalized a rule that would have compelled banks to measure any prospective customer on measurable risk factors rather than rejecting whole categories of business, such as firearms makers, adult entertainment, payday lenders, coal mines or crypto firms. But it was shoved aside at the start of the administration of former President Joe Biden, leaving the question open.

Instead, this report referenced OCC bulletins, the agency's work to strike "reputational risk" as a consideration in supervising financial institutions and Trump's order. The presidential order isn't, itself, a law, but was a directive from Trump to his administration's regulators, not the banks directly.

Though Republican lawmakers and conservative groups have pushed for a backlash against the kind of debanking that crypto businesses and their executives have decried, the OCC's report didn't take enough responsibility to please everybody.

"While the OCC broke down cases of debanking, it failed to mention some of the most well-known causes of debanking," said Cato Institute Policy Analyst Nicholas Anthony, in a statement. "The report criticizes banks for severing ties with controversial clients, but it fails to mention that regulators explicitly assess banks on their reputation."

Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives released a report implicating U.S. banking regulators in the debanking saga of recent years.

Read More: Top U.S. Banking Regulator Gould Says Crypto Debanking 'Is Real'

UPDATE (December 10, 2025, 22:34 UTC): Adds response from OCC on the legal stance against debanking.

• As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
• GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
• Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

• Democrats shared a response to Republicans outlining their continuing priorities for a crypto market structure bill, which they said was intended to "reach an agreement and proceed towards a mark-up."
• The document laid out concerns with financial stability, market integrity and public officials' ability to trade and profit off of crypto, echoing concerns laid out in a framework Democrats shared in September.
• The Senate is running out of time in the Congressional calendar to hold a markup hearing — a key step toward progressing the bill — before 2025 ends.

Disclosure & Polices: CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.