The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released Interpretive Letter 1186, clarifying that national banks may hold crypto assets on their balance sheets to pay blockchain network gas fees for permissible activities.

This guidance aligns with the GENIUS Act framework and other federal rules, making it permissible for banks to hold crypto assets for paying network fees and for anticipated, lawful needs.

Under new leadership, the OCC has shifted toward a more crypto-friendly stance for supervised banks, signaling regulatory openness to crypto-related banking activities.

The letter reflects ongoing policy under Comptroller Jonathan Gould, continuing a pattern of crypto-friendly guidance, including custody, trading, and network-node activities.

Banks are instructed to manage related risks—operational, market, liquidity, cybersecurity, and legal—and to keep crypto holdings minimal relative to capital.

The guidance emphasizes that holding crypto for paying network fees is incidental to banking and permissible when it supports lawful activities, likening it to holdings in other stable or turnkey payment contexts.

The GENIUS stablecoin act, now law, provides a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and underpins the OCC’s rationale that banks can use custody assets to pay network fees or settle transactions.

Banks may hold crypto tokens reasonably anticipated to be needed for paying network fees or facilitating client transactions, aiming to reduce reliance on third-party providers and lower operational risk.

Banks can act as agents or custodians for clients, maintaining crypto assets required to pay network fees and support transactional workflows.

This guidance expands previous OCC communications about handling customer crypto assets and outsourcing related activities, signaling a broader, more permissive stance toward crypto in banking.

The OCC move signals regulators’ willingness to integrate banks into crypto activities safely, potentially accelerating adoption and bridging traditional finance with blockchain operations.

While GENIUS Act rulemaking is ongoing, federal regulators including the Fed, FDIC, and Treasury are developing new rules for stablecoins and related activities, with no full rollout yet.