Jonathan Gould, head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), stated that there is no justification for treating banks and crypto firms differently. He emphasized that digital asset companies should have a clear path to obtaining federal banking licenses and integrating into the regulatory framework. Gould highlighted that custody services have been electronic for decades, urging the banking system to evolve from the "telegraph era" to the blockchain era. This year, the OCC received 14 new bank charter applications, including entities involved in digital assets, nearly matching the total from the past four years. Currently, Anchorage Digital and Erebor are the only crypto banks licensed by the OCC.