The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) confirmed permissible bank activities related to paying crypto-asset network fees.

The OCC published Interpretive Letter 1186 confirming that a national bank may pay network fees, sometimes referred to as “gas fees,” on blockchain networks to facilitate otherwise permissible activities and hold, as principal, amounts of crypto-assets on balance sheet necessary to pay network fees for which the bank anticipates a reasonably foreseeable need.

The OCC also confirms that a national bank may hold amounts of crypto-assets as principal necessary for testing otherwise permissible crypto-asset-related platforms, whether internally developed or acquired from a third party.

As with any activity, a national bank must conduct these activities in a safe and sound manner and in compliance with applicable law.

Source: OCC

🚨Very important news from the ⁦⁦@USOCC.⁩ If banks can now hold crypto assets to pay gas/network fees, this means that maybe public blockchains aren’t such a bad thing after all.
https://t.co/o6nKoZWhEd

— Christopher Perkins 🦅🌎⚓️NYC (@perkinscr97) November 18, 2025