Traditional U.S. banks have taken direct action to keep major crypto companies like Coinbase and Circle in check. According to a report by Brave New Coin, bankers in the U.S. have filed a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. They argue that the national trust charters obtained by Coinbase and Circle are a form of preferential treatment, as they allow these firms to essentially engage in banking operations under much looser regulations than traditional banks.

With regulatory barriers rising globally—evidenced by recent moves like the sanctioning of Garantex in Japan or stricter identity verification for Binance in Brazil—it seems even the traditional financial sector is aggressively tackling crypto’s expansion. This creates quite a tricky, unexpected variable for leading crypto players who have been trying to settle into the institutional mainstream by complying with regulations.

It might look like traditional banks just protecting their turf, but depending on whose side the judiciary takes, the difficulty for crypto companies to obtain licenses in the future could change drastically. Ultimately, we will have to keep a close eye on this legal battle to see if it deepens the polarization between the select few institutional-grade assets that clear the regulatory hurdle and those that don't. haha

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