US regulator OCC clarifies how banks can handle network ‘gas fees’

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has released new policy guidance setting out how national banks can preserve crypto assets used to pay “gas fees” on blockchain networks.

The agency said Tuesday in a so-called Interpretation Letter No. 1186 that banks can keep digital assets on their balance sheets that they deem reasonably necessary for business operations.

Blockchain networks routinely require the use of their own specific tokens as fees for transactions, so banks wishing to process such activities must have the necessary assets on hand. The letter states that activities “expressly permitted under the National Innovation Guidance and Establishment Act for U.S. Stablecoins” require banks to pay network fees on behalf of their customers or as part of their custodian operations.

The OCC concluded that it is permissible for banks to require “to pay network fees to facilitate otherwise permissible crypto-asset activity and to maintain on its balance sheet as principal the amount of crypto-assets necessary to pay network fees that the bank reasonably anticipates will be necessary.”

U.S. banking regulators, including the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Treasury Department, are already working on developing new regulations to govern stablecoin issuers and activities based on the requirements of the new GENIUS Act. However, the legislation approved earlier this year does not yet implement these rules.

With the advent of President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto administration, the OCC reversed its long-held hesitancy to allow regulated banks to engage in digital asset activities. The agency is currently run by Jonathan Gould, a Trump appointee who was confirmed by the Senate in July.

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