This issue covers seven developments. The OCC conditionally approved a national trust bank charter for a Morgan Stanley digital-asset subsidiary. New Hampshire's Executive Council rejected what would have been the first rated Bitcoin-backed municipal bond issued under a state's authority. The CLARITY Act missed the White House's July 4 signing target, with a revised text now expected as soon as next week. The House Financial Services Committee debated the Federal Reserve's proposed "skinny" master accounts for fintech and digital-asset firms. More than 140 companies, including U.S. Bank, BBVA, and Standard Chartered, joined a consortium to issue a shared stablecoin called Open USD. BNY added USDC custody, minting, and redemption for institutional clients. And Silicon Valley Bank published a report finding crypto-collateralized lending reached $67 billion, up 49% year over year.
OCC Conditionally Approves National Trust Bank Charter for Morgan Stanley Digital-Asset Subsidiary
The OCC conditionally approved a national trust bank charter for Morgan Stanley Digital Trust National Association, according to documents made public the week of June 22. The approval was signed June 18, four months after Morgan Stanley applied. The trust's main activities will be custody of certain digital assets and incidental activities including the purchase, sale, swap, and transfer of digital assets to support client investment. It will also facilitate staking on a fiduciary basis and act as collateral administrator for digital-asset lending offered by an affiliate.
The trust must maintain at least $50 million in tier 1 capital for its first three years, with at least half held as eligible liquid assets, plus an additional amount equal to 180 days of operating expenses. It must assess capital and liquidity quarterly, engage an external auditor annually, obtain the OCC's non-objection before appointing senior executive officers or directors, give 60 days' notice before significant deviations from its business plan, and comply with the GENIUS Act. The application drew one comment, from a bank trade group questioning whether the activities were permissible for a national trust bank; the OCC said the concerns raised were not grounds for denial.
For context: most national trust charter applications under Comptroller Jonathan Gould have come from digital-asset firms. Jasper Sneff Nanni of consulting firm FS Vector told American Banker the approval "will create a sense of urgency for wealth management competitors who want to stay on equal footing."
For banks: The approval document is a public template for what the OCC requires of a digital-asset trust affiliated with an established institution: capital floors, liquidity coverage, governance non-objections, and GENIUS Act compliance written in as charter conditions. It is the first such approval for a subsidiary of a major bank rather than a digital-asset firm.
Sources: Banking Dive | OCC Corporate Decision 1378 | American Banker
New Hampshire Council Rejects First State-Authority Bitcoin-Backed Municipal Bond, 3-2
On July 9, the New Hampshire Executive Council voted 3-2 against the Business Finance Authority's plan to issue up to $100 million in taxable municipal bonds backed by Bitcoin — expected to be the first rated Bitcoin-backed bond issued under a state's authority. The private placement, managed by Jefferies and tied to Bitcoin mining and datacenter firm CleanSpark, had received a Ba2 rating from Moody's in March. The council vote was the final government approval step. Councilors David Wheeler, Karen Liot Hill, and Janet Stevens opposed; John Stephen and Joe Kenney voted in favor.
Councilor Liot Hill explained her opposition at the hearing: "This is facilitating a private loan, essentially. We are being asked as a state to lend a kind of legitimacy to a financial transaction which is an emerging asset class that's been shown to be very volatile." Governor Kelly Ayotte had promoted the bond as "groundbreaking." Rep. Keith Ammon, the House majority floor leader, called the rejection "an extremely short-sighted decision" and said the council "should gather all relevant facts and information and reconsider their vote at a future meeting." Ammon told CoinDesk that "We're not giving up," noting that council members face election this year and a single vote would change the outcome.
For context: New Hampshire became the first state to approve a crypto reserve law in May 2025, and Moody's March rating of this bond was the first it had assigned to a Bitcoin-collateralized public-market deal.
For banks: A rated, Bitcoin-collateralized bond structure cleared underwriting, received a Ba2 from Moody's, and reached the final approval stage of a state conduit issuer before failing on a 3-2 vote. The structure is now public precedent for how Bitcoin collateral can be packaged for the municipal market, and proponents have said they will seek reconsideration.
Sources: CoinDesk | Bloomberg | Bond Buyer
CLARITY Act Misses July 4 Signing Target; Revised Text Expected as Senate Returns
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633) did not pass the Senate before the July 4 target the White House had set. The bill sits at Calendar No. 423 on the Senate Legislative Calendar. The Senate returns from recess July 13, leaving roughly three working weeks before the August recess, which analysts at Stifel and Beacon Policy Advisors have described as the last realistic window for 2026 passage. On July 9, CoinDesk reported that a revised version of the bill could be released as soon as the week of July 13, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
Three disputes stand between the bill and the roughly seven Democratic votes it needs for cloture. First, ethics: on July 1 the Office of Government Ethics released President Trump's annual financial disclosure showing approximately $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related income for 2025, and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Angela Alsobrooks have said enforceable ethics language covering officials' crypto holdings is a condition of their support. Second, Section 604's protections for non-custodial software developers, which the National District Attorneys' Association and other law enforcement groups argue would impair criminal investigations. Third, stablecoin yield: the American Bankers Association argues the bill's rewards language would let platforms offer interest-equivalent yields outside the GENIUS Act's prohibition on issuer-paid interest.
The administration continued pressing. The White House Crypto Council met with law enforcement groups in late June, producing an endorsement from the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. JPMorgan Chase analysts wrote on June 29 that the bank supports the bill while flagging risks in the framework. Polymarket priced 2026 passage at 42–50% in early July, down from 74% a month earlier.
For banks: The unresolved stablecoin-yield provision is the piece with direct deposit implications: it determines whether exchanges and custodians can offer rewards on stablecoin balances that function like interest. The bill's custody rules and SEC/CFTC jurisdictional split also remain in flux until final text emerges. House Financial Services hearings on July 14 and 17 will indicate whether the pre-recess path stays open.
Sources: CoinDesk | Tech Times | PYMNTS
House committee debates Fed "skinny" master accounts for digital-asset and fintech firms
At a House Financial Services Committee hearing on June 24, lawmakers examined the Federal Reserve's proposal to grant fintech and digital-asset firms limited payment-system access through so-called skinny master accounts. "Access to the Federal Reserve payment system is not a small issue," said Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.). "Who should be allowed direct access to these critical payment rails?"
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), ranking member of the digital assets subcommittee, cited the 2024 Synapse bankruptcy and asked what minimum conditions Congress should require before a fintech or digital-asset company gains access to a reserve master account. Rachel Anderika, head of global operations at Anchorage Digital, testified in favor of frameworks that permit innovation. Comment letters filed since Fed Governor Christopher Waller floated the concept in October 2025 have split: digital-asset firms broadly support the proposal, while community bank groups argue novel institutions are not subject to the same regulatory compliance regime.
For context: the Kansas City Fed approved a limited-purpose account for Kraken's parent company in March, the first for a digital-asset firm, and a May executive order directed the Fed to evaluate its policies on payment-system access for fintech firms.
For banks: The access model determines whether digital-asset firms continue to rely on partner banks for payment services or clear directly through Fedwire and FedNow. Institutions that earn fee income as sponsor or correspondent banks for those firms have direct exposure to how the Fed resolves the question. No timeline for a final framework has been announced.
Sources: The Block | The Block (Waller proposal)
More than 140 companies, including three banks, form consortium to issue shared "Open USD" stablecoin
On June 30, Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD), a U.S. dollar stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies, with a launch planned for later this year. Participants include payment networks Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover; banks and asset managers including U.S. Bank, BBVA, Standard Chartered, BNY, and BlackRock; technology firms including Google, Shopify, and IBM; and digital-asset firms including Coinbase, Ripple, and Galaxy.
Businesses will be able to mint and redeem OUSD without fees or volume limits, and most reserve income will be distributed to participating companies after a management fee. Governance is shared among partner companies through an independent organization; no single issuer controls the coin. "Shared, interoperable infrastructure is key to bringing stablecoins into the broader financial system," said Mastercard Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert in the announcement. Stripe's Will Gaybrick said OUSD is intended to become the default stablecoin for businesses using Stripe.
For banks: U.S. Bank and BBVA are the first large commercial banks to join a shared-issuance stablecoin consortium of this scale, a different posture from issuing a proprietary coin or joining the tokenized deposit network large banks announced in June. The reserve-revenue-sharing model is a public data point on the economics available to participating institutions. The coin has not launched, and its treatment under the pending GENIUS Act rules is not yet defined.
Sources: The Block | PYMNTS | Open Standard
BNY Adds USDC Custody, Minting, and Redemption for Institutional Clients
BNY, the largest custody bank with $59 trillion in assets under custody or administration, said on June 29 that USDC will become the first stablecoin supported on its Digital Asset Custody platform. Institutional clients will be able to hold USDC in custody at BNY and instruct Circle to convert dollars into the stablecoin or redeem it back into dollars through the bank. BNY said it plans to support additional stablecoin issuers over time.
The bank already serves as primary custodian of the reserves backing USDC, which has a market capitalization above $73 billion. "As digital assets become increasingly integrated into financial markets, institutions need infrastructure that seamlessly works across traditional and blockchain-based systems," said Carolyn Weinberg, BNY's chief product and innovation officer.
For banks: A custody bank now offers hold, mint, and redeem functions for a regulated stablecoin inside the same platform institutions use for cash and securities. For institutions evaluating stablecoin services, the announcement shows a bank counterparty handling the custody and conversion layer end to end.
Sources: CoinDesk | BNY press release
Silicon Valley Bank Report: Crypto-Collateralized Lending Reaches $67 Billion, Up 49% Year Over Year
Silicon Valley Bank published a report in late June on the state of Bitcoin-backed lending, written by Anthony Vassallo, the bank's director of crypto, and research analyst Josh Pherigo. The report found total crypto-backed lending has climbed to $67 billion, up 49% year over year, and that several major U.S. banks now offer Bitcoin-backed credit facilities. Lending firm Ledn estimates the consumer Bitcoin-backed loan market at roughly $3 billion today.
The report traces the market's shift since the 2022–2023 failures of Celsius, BlockFi, and Genesis toward overcollateralization, transparency, and disciplined underwriting. It cites Ledn's $188 million asset-backed security, completed in February, as the first Bitcoin-collateralized deal to receive an investment-grade rating from a nationally recognized ratings agency. Consumer loan rates still generally run 7.5% to 16% APR; SVB expects participation from banks and private credit funds to narrow spreads, pointing to Strike's recently announced 7.5% rate on term loans above $5 million. The report also identifies the Lightning Network as a potential catalyst, enabling near-instant collateral transfers, margin calls, and liquidations.
For banks: The report puts numbers on the collateralized lending market a bank would enter: $67 billion in outstanding crypto-backed loans, 7.5–16% consumer APRs against 50–70% loan-to-value ratios, and one investment-grade securitization as a funding precedent. The spread between those rates and conventional secured lending is the margin SVB expects bank participation to compress.
Sources: CoinDesk | Silicon Valley Bank
What to Watch
- GENIUS Act rulemaking deadline July 18. The statute requires implementing regulations within one year of enactment. The OCC, FDIC, Fed, and Treasury proposals are all pending finalization; comment windows closed in June. Full implementation takes effect January 18, 2027.
- Senate returns July 13, with new CLARITY text possible the same week. House Financial Services hearings on the bill are set for July 14 and July 17. Whether Majority Leader Thune schedules floor time before the August recess is the open question for 2026 passage.
- New Hampshire reconsideration. Rep. Keith Ammon has called for the Executive Council to revisit the Bitcoin bond vote at a future meeting; all five council seats are on the ballot this year, and a single vote would change the outcome.
- MiCA fully in force in the EU. The EU regulation's transitional period ended July 1. Roughly 244 of the more than 1,200 firms previously operating under national registrations secured full authorization.
- Better/Coinbase Bitcoin-collateralized mortgage rollout. The companies said in June they plan nationwide availability by end of summer, following the first Fannie Mae-backed closing covered in Edition 13.
- SEC strategic plan comments closed July 2. The SEC's FY2026–2030 draft plan names digital asset rulemaking and SEC/CFTC jurisdictional clarity as five-year priorities; a final plan follows.
Looking to integrate Bitcoin products into your financial institution? Learn how at galoy.io.