The initial application by UK payments firm Wise for a “national trust bank charter” has been rejected by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) over failures to implement an effective anti-money laundering program. The US federal banking regulator dismissed Wise’s initial bid because the company was deemed to lack effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) compliance programs. The OCC also highlighted risks of illicit financial activity associated with the company’s systems.
The rejection has forced Wise to seek a workaround, and its options now hinge on crypto asset regulatory frameworks.
The Irony of Approvals for Pure Crypto Players
The OCC’s strict stance toward conventional payment providers presents an irony when compared to the regulator’s treatment of pure digital asset entities. Over the past year, the OCC has approved similar charters for various crypto companies. A roster of major industry names ranging from Circle, Ripple Labs, Crypto.com, to Coinbase have successfully secured approvals from the same authority.
Capitalizing on this regulatory path, Wise is preparing to reapply to the OCC under the legal framework of the GENIUS Act. Signed into law in July 2025, the legislation was specifically designed to establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoin issuers in the United States.
However, this alternative route still carries risks of administrative uncertainty. Washington regulators missed a crucial deadline last week to issue technical implementation guidelines for the GENIUS Act. The absence of these guidelines has created confusion around compliance processes, given that the law is slated to take full effect in January 2027.
A Compliance Tactic, Not a Token Launch
The bureaucratic maneuver of utilizing stablecoin legislation has raised questions about Wise’s future product strategy. Despite shifting its legal approach, analysts at investment bank William Blair believe the move does not alter Wise’s sentiment toward adopting stablecoins directly for its services.
The company continues to maintain that its core business mission centers on lowering cross-border remittance costs. Wise operates on a “rail-agnostic” philosophy, meaning it is willing to utilize any underlying infrastructure as long as it ensures lower transaction fees for end users.
This underlines Wise’s pragmatic maneuvering. The firm is targeting the stablecoin regulatory framework as bureaucratic leverage to demonstrate robust compliance before US financial regulators, rather than out of an ambition to issue a new token. The entire application ultimately serves a single objective: securing a full legal charter to operate as a national bank in the US.
Reported by Cointelegraph.
Read also: What Is DeFi (Decentralized Finance)?
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
