STKR News0 of 3 free this monthWise is planning a strategic pivot in its quest for a national trust charter, leveraging the newly introduced GENIUS Act to navigate the OCC regulatory landscape.
Originally on The Block →Adrian Boysel
Contributor
Jul 24, 2026
5 min read
Photo illustration / STKR News
For years, fintech companies and crypto-adjacent firms have been banging on the doors of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The goal is simple but incredibly difficult to achieve: a national trust bank charter. This charter is the holy grail because it allows a company to operate across state lines without the nightmare of fifty different regulatory regimes. It provides direct access to the payment system and a level of legitimacy that makes traditional partners stop looking at you like a high-risk liability.
Wise, formerly known as TransferWise, has been in this fight for a long time. They have built a massive business on the back of making international money movement less of a scam, but they are still tired of being a guest in someone else's house. They want their own keys. Their initial attempt at a national trust bank charter stalled out, much like many others did during the previous few years of regulatory tightening. But the winds are shifting, and Wise is now signaling a return to the application process with a new tool in their belt: the GENIUS Act.
The Guided Entrepreneurship and Next-generation Innovation for Unified Systems Act—mercifully shortened to the GENIUS Act—is a framework designed to provide a clearer path for non-traditional financial institutions to gain federal oversight. For builders in the crypto and stablecoin space, this is a significant development. It represents a move away from the purely discretionary and often opaque rejection cycles we saw under previous leadership at the OCC.
The act is essentially a response to the fact that the world has changed. The regulators realize that if they keep the door locked, the innovation doesn't stop; it just moves to jurisdictions where they have zero influence. By creating a specific framework for these modern entities, the OCC is trying to bring firms like Wise into the fold, ensuring they follow federal standards while acknowledging that they don't look or act like a local credit union.
It is no coincidence that this move by Wise follows a series of conditional approvals granted to stablecoin-focused entities. Since late last year, the OCC has been cautiously opening the door to firms that handle digital assets. This is the first real sign of a thaw in what many have called a regulatory winter. If you are a founder building in the payments or stablecoin sector, this is the most important signal you’ve seen in three years.
When the OCC grants a conditional approval, they are saying, "We think your business model is viable, but we don't fully trust your internal controls yet." It’s a probationary period. For Wise, watching these stablecoin entities get through the door provides a blueprint. If firms dealing with high-velocity digital assets can get the nod, a seasoned payments giant like Wise should, in theory, have a smoother path—provided they play by the new rules of the GENIUS Act.
If you're building a decentralized finance protocol or a new cross-border payment rails, you might think a national bank charter is irrelevant to you. That’s a mistake. The regulatory environment is a trickle-down system. When a player like Wise gets a federal charter, it sets the standards for KYC, AML, and custody that will eventually become the baseline for everyone else.
The GENIUS Act framework is likely to include heavy emphasis on technology audits and real-time monitoring. For founders, this means your tech stack is now a compliance tool. You can no longer build the product and think about the "legal stuff" later. In this new framework, the code and the compliance are the same thing.
As much as I want to see Wise succeed here, we have to be honest about the risks. The OCC is still a conservative body. Just because there is a new framework doesn't mean the old guard has suddenly become "pro-disruption." The GENIUS Act could easily become another layer of bureaucracy that just moves the goalposts further down the field. Wise is betting that the framework provides a transparent checklist, but in my experience, bank regulators love a good "gray area" that allows them to say no without explaining why.
Furthermore, becoming a bank changes a company's DNA. Wise has been the agile underdog for years. When you become a federally chartered trust bank, you inherit a mountain of reporting requirements and oversight that can kill innovation. There is a real danger that in the quest for the charter, Wise becomes exactly the kind of slow, bloated bank they originally set out to disrupt. Builders need to ask themselves: is the charter worth the loss of speed?
The resubmission by Wise is a bellwether for the entire industry. If they get through under the GENIUS Act, it proves that the new framework is functional and not just a PR move by the government. It will signal a green light for other large-scale fintech and crypto firms to stop hiding behind state-level licenses and go for the federal gold.
The regulatory door isn't wide open yet, but it's finally unlocked. If you're building in this space, your priority should be ensuring your infrastructure can handle the scrutiny of a federal framework. The days of 'move fast and break things' in finance are over; the new era is about moving fast with a paper trail that even a federal auditor can love.
We are watching a shift from the "Wild West" of fintech to a "Managed Frontier." Wise is leading the charge, and their success or failure will define the next decade of digital finance. Keep your eyes on their progress. If the OCC gives them the green light, the floodgates for institutional crypto and integrated payments will officially be open.
Read the original at The Block →
A six-minute morning dispatch on the markets and the technology shaping them.
Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Earn $STKR for published stories on markets, protocols, and culture.
Comments
24 reader responses
