Community bankers are suing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) over approvals of national trust bank charters for cryptocurrency companies.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed the lawsuit on October 2nd, 2026, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The suit challenges a March 2nd, 2026, final rule and related guidance that the group says improperly expands the OCC’s power to charter national trust banks for non-fiduciary activities, including substantial crypto operations.

The complaint seeks to overturn the rule and vacate the conditional approval granted to at least one crypto firm, Protego Holdings Corp.

The OCC has approved or conditionally approved 21 such charters, with at least 13 going to crypto companies.

“These approvals violate the law because they exceed the OCC’s statutory authority. They are also arbitrary and capricious because the OCC ignored warnings from commenters, including ICBA, that Protego and other crypto companies had severely flawed risk and control functions and governance structures that lack independent oversight. They are thus at serious risk of failure if the volatile cryptocurrency market crashes.”

According to the ICBA, the OCC’s decision to allow companies to obtain national trust bank charters to conduct substantial non-fiduciary activities exceeds the authority Congress granted the agency.

Says ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey,

“Congress did not create the national trust charter as a side door into the banking system for crypto firms seeking the credibility of a federal bank charter without the Community Reinvestment Act obligations, consolidated supervision, capital and liquidity standards, and FDIC insurance that apply to insured depository institutions.”

The OCC’s final rule and Interpretive Letter No. 1176 “perversely regulate trust banks far more lightly than traditional banks, allowing entities engaged in highly risky cryptocurrency and digital assets activities to enter the banking system under the national trust charter rather than the more rigorously regulated traditional bank charter,” the lawsuit states.

Prior to the recent approvals, the OCC had never chartered a national bank that neither took deposits nor engaged in fiduciary activities.

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The post Community Bankers Sue OCC Over Crypto Trust Bank Charter Approvals appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

The City of Sacramento is launching an $8 million guaranteed income program that will pay eligible foster youth $900 a month with no strings attached.

The city and United Way California Capital Region say the Foster Youth Guaranteed Income Program will send the money for up to two years, or until a recipient turns 25, whichever comes first.

Applications open October 1st of 2026 and close at 11:59 p.m. on October 31st of 2026. One hundred eligible applicants will be chosen by lottery, with notices starting the first week of November. Payments are set to begin January 15th of 2027.

Applicants must be ages 16 to 23 when payments start, live in the city or county of Sacramento, or be receiving homeless services there. They must be former foster youth who left care after age 16, or current foster youth within 90 days of leaving when payments start. Household income has to sit at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. Immigration status does not affect eligibility.

Recipients do not have to join any other services to keep the checks. They can spend the money as they choose.

The city is paying for the program with Measure L, the 2022 Sacramento Children’s Fund that requires the equivalent of 40% of local cannabis tax revenue to go to child and youth services.

United Way California Capital Region will run the program. The nonprofit has administered guaranteed-income pilots in the region since 2021.

Mayor Kevin McCarty addressed the funding.

“Supporting former foster youth as they transition into adulthood is an investment in their future and our community’s future. We’re putting our Measure L funding where it can have the greatest impact.”

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The Justice Department says UCLA’s law school discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its 2023, 2024 and 2025 classes.

The findings say the school violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on race in admissions.

The department says the school rejected white and Asian applicants who had the same LSAT scores as admitted black and Hispanic applicants.

In 2024 and 2025 combined, half of the admitted black applicants had LSAT scores at or below 90 percent of the admitted white applicants.

Investigators say the application still uses essays that draw out race, and staff told applicants how to reveal it at a “Diversity Admissions Open House.”

Says Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon,

“Like many of its peer institutions, UCLA Law School runs a two-tiered admissions system whose academic bar for acceptance shifts up or down depending on the color of your skin.

The use of race as a thumb on the scale that helps or disadvantages any student is illegal. The Department will continue to enforce equal treatment under the law everywhere — including in our nation’s law schools.”

UCLA Law is the law school at the University of California, Los Angeles. It takes federal money, which puts it under the civil rights rule.

The department says it will try to settle. If that fails, it will sue.

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