Banks in the US can now hold crypto assets such as ETH to pay network fees on blockchain rails, marking one of the clearest regulatory permissions yet for onchain settlement in the traditional financial system.
US Banks Get Green Light to Hold Crypto for Network Fees Under OCC Guidance
19 November 2025 - 07:49 CET
By Stu Clelland
A shift toward operational onchain access
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency confirmed in Interpretive Letter 1186 that national banks may hold limited amounts of crypto on their balance sheets when needed to execute otherwise permissible activities.
The OCC is the US regulator that oversees all nationally chartered banks. It sits within the Treasury Department and sets the rules that govern how banks operate, manage risk and engage with new financial technologies. When the agency updates its guidance, it effectively defines what the country’s largest banks can and cannot do. This includes paying transaction fees to settle transfers, support custody operations or operate nodes on distributed ledgers.
The ruling clears up a long-standing operational snag that forced banks to outsource basic onchain fee payments, an odd bottleneck for institutions exploring tokenized settlement. Public networks typically require fees paid in a native asset such as ETH, which left institutions reliant on third-party providers to access small amounts of tokens needed for operational use.
The OCC said banks can also hold crypto to test digital asset platforms they intend to deploy, provided they maintain controls covering technology risk, liquidity, market exposure and illicit finance.
Regulated institutions prepare for onchain settlement
Under the guidance, banks may only hold the amount of crypto needed for reasonably foreseeable fee requirements, and the activity must be supervised under existing safety and compliance standards. The permission is technology-neutral and falls within banks' incidental powers to perform activities necessary to deliver existing services.
The OCC compared the holding of native assets for transaction fees to long-standing activities like maintaining foreign currency inventories or holding instruments required to participate in payment systems. The agency emphasised that the ruling does not authorise speculative investment in crypto.
A broader opening for institutional onchain activity
The decision arrives as principal payments and settlement providers explore tokenized deposits, onchain repo and blockchain-based clearing. Banks have previously received OCC permissions to operate blockchain nodes, support specific stablecoin structures and hold reserves for qualifying issuers.
The latest guidance extends that framework by allowing banks to operate onchain rails without relying on external token providers, reducing friction in custody, settlement and tokenisation pilots.
