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- Banks Can Now Pay Gas Fees — OCC Unlocks Crypto for US Banks
Banks Can Now Pay Gas Fees — OCC Unlocks Crypto for US Banks
Plus: 🪙 Monad defends weak sale, 📉 activist fund targets Pompliano DAT, 🏦 Kraken hits $20B, 💵 Paxos launches USDG0.
Juan Aranovich
November 19, 2025
Hi! In today’s edition:
🏦 OCC says US banks can hold crypto to pay gas fees
📉 Activist fund takes aim at Pompliano’s bitcoin DAT
🪙 Monad defends its slow token sale on Coinbase
💰 Kraken valued at $20B after Citadel investment
💵 Paxos rolls out USDG0 across three chains
🎧 Market structure, politics, and the Fed on Bits + Bips
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Mantle
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By Tikta
OCC Confirms US Banks Can Pay Blockchain Gas Fees
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has confirmed that national banks in the U.S. are allowed to hold specific tokens on their balance sheets to pay blockchain network "gas fees" for transactions.
In its Interpretive Letter No. 1186, the OCC emphasized that holding and using crypto for gas fees is considered an incidental part of banking activities and is permissible when the bank anticipates a reasonably foreseeable need.
“This is HUGE for the industry,” noted media mogul Paul Barron on X.
“Banks can now hold BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL & other native tokens…no more relying on third-party services.”
The move signifies a notable shift in the OCC's approach under the current administration.
The guidance aligns with the regulatory framework emerging after the passage of the GENIUS Act for stablecoins, although detailed regulations are still being finalized by other federal agencies.
Activist Hedge Fund Reveals 7.7% Stake in Pompliano’s Bitcoin DAT
By Steven Ehrlich
As the crypto market slumps, activist hedge fund Glazer Capital has amassed a 7.7% position in the SPAC taking ProCap public, setting the stage for a fight over the terms of Anthony Pompliano’s bitcoin DAT. Specifically, the company revealed a 7.7% stake (1,989,461.00 shares) in the SPAC, which is set to merge next month with ProCap Financial Inc to form the new entity.
In its SEC filing today, the company suggested that major changes will be needed to position itself for future success. “The Reporting Persons do not believe that the proposed business combination between the Issuer and ProCap BTC (the “Target”), as currently structured, is in the best interests of public shareholders.”
The specific remedies being suggested for now begin with a renegotiation of the compensation packages offered to company executives and key sponsors, known as the “promote.”
“The Reporting Persons have communicated to the Target that one potential path to improving the alignment of interests among all stakeholders includes materially reducing the Sponsor’s promote shares and certain transaction-related fees, with a view toward redistributing a portion of such economics to (i) a pool allocated to public shareholders who elect not to redeem their shares in connection with the proposed business combination, and (ii) the preferred stockholders. The Reporting Persons believe that exploring such a reallocation framework could enhance the attractiveness of the proposed business combination, improve capital structure stability, and create a more balanced outcome for public and preferred investors.”
In the rest of this story, you’ll find:
How ProCap’s double promote dilutes shareholders
What cards Glazer Capital has to play
How Pompliano has already compromised on his compensation
Monad Co-Founder Defends Token Sale After Slow Uptake
After an underwhelming response to its token sale on Coinbase, Monad co-founder Keone Hon took to X to defend the project’s decision.
“The purpose of the MON token sale is to achieve the broadest distribution,” said Hon.
“We chose Coinbase (and their allocation algorithm, which is democratic and transparent) because of their unique ability to reach an audience that we think is important to engage and re-activate.”
The sale initially raised $43 million in just 30 minutes, but by the end of the second day had raised just $120 million or 68% of its target.
Monad’s tokenomics document also calls for an adaptive distribution strategy to mitigate the risk of undersubscription.
The project plans to redirect unsold tokens to the Ecosystem Development category, focusing on developer grants, partnerships, and marketing initiatives.
“In the MON token sale on Coinbase, users get 5 1/2 days to decide whether to commit, and once they commit, they're locked in,” explained Hon.
“For someone on Crypto Twitter, that optionality might be a big deal. For someone not in our bubble, maybe not so much.”
Kraken Valued at $20 Billion After $200 Million Raise From Citadel
Crypto exchange Kraken has been valued at $20 billion, following a $200 million strategic investment from Citadel Securities.
The investment is part of an $800 million total capital raise aimed at advancing Kraken's growth and strategic roadmap as it pushes toward an expected IPO, potentially later this year or early 2026.
Citadel’s involvement will bring liquidity provision and risk management expertise, while Kraken plans to use the funds to expand beyond the U.S. and develop new payment products.
Kraken earned $648 million in Q3 revenue, marking a 50% increase over the last quarter, while transaction volume across the platform hit $576.8 billion over the same period.
Have you watched our new DeFi show yet?! Uneasy Money is LIVE today (and every Wednesday) at 3pm ET 👀
Hosts Kain Warwick, Taylor Monahan, and Luca Netz bring you tokenomics, DAOs, yields, security…and everything in between.
Paxos Rolls Out Regulated Stablecoin USDG0 Across Three Blockchains
Paxos has launched USDG0, an omnichain extension of its regulated USDG stablecoin, to expand fully backed dollar liquidity across multiple blockchain ecosystems while maintaining regulatory compliance.
USDG0 is built using LayerZero's Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard, enabling it to operate seamlessly and natively across multiple blockchains without needing wrapped versions on each chain.
The first phase of the rollout includes Hyperliquid, Plume, and Aptos. Notably, USD0’s deployments on Plume and Aptos will be the Move-based implementations, as opposed to a majority of stablecoins that rely on ERC-20 compatibility.
“As USDG0 expands, every network and protocol gains the ability to integrate trusted, economically aligned stablecoins into their products, thereby participating directly in the economics of the stablecoin layer,” said the Paxos team.
Bits + Bips: Why the White House Says Crypto Must Grow in America
A White House advisor breaks down the Senate’s new crypto market structure draft, and why he thinks a vote this year is still possible.
Hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins sit down with Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets at the White House, to break down the latest updates in the crypto market structure bill and the political calculus behind it.
Patrick discusses how Democrats have started to listen more actively, why DeFi remains one of the most complicated pieces of the bill, and how the administration is thinking about innovation versus incumbency.
Later, the group turns to markets: whether the Fed is shifting regimes, why institutions move slowly but decisively, and what catalysts could matter most in the months ahead.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
🧩 Ethereum researchers opened testing for the new Interop Layer, a system meant to make Ethereum’s many layer 2 networks feel like one unified chain so users can move assets around without thinking about bridges or chain names, powered by account‑abstraction tech that lets wallets act like smart contracts.
🕵️ Malaysia said it uncovered more than $1.1 billion in stolen electricity used by nearly 14,000 illegal crypto‑mining sites since 2020, prompting new tracking databases and upgraded meters to spot suspicious power use before it destabilizes the national grid.
📜 U.S. Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott said he plans to push a vote next month on a long‑delayed crypto market rules bill so it can reach President Trump in early 2026, arguing the measure clarifies who oversees which digital assets and accusing Democrats of slowing progress despite bipartisan talks.
🇧🇷💱 Brazil is weighing whether to apply its existing financial transaction tax to international crypto payments, after officials said the central bank classified these cross‑border transfers — including those using stablecoins — as foreign‑exchange operations that could be taxed.
🌐 Cloudflare’s global outage knocked major crypto sites like Arbiscan, DefiLlama, Toncoin, BitMEX and even X offline with 500‑error pages, dragging Cloudflare’s stock down 3.5% and underscoring how dependent the industry still is on centralized internet infrastructure.
🚀 Revolut teamed up with Polygon to let its 65 million users send stablecoin payments and crypto remittances across Europe and the U.K., with the integration already moving nearly $700 million since December and aiming to show regulators that blockchain payments can fit within existing rules.
💵 Obex, a new crypto incubator backed by Framework Ventures, LayerZero and the Sky ecosystem, raised $37 million to build safer yield‑generating stablecoins using real‑world collateral such as energy assets and fintech loans, aiming to avoid the blowups that plagued other synthetic stablecoins.
🔒 Privacy startup 0xbow, creator of Ethereum’s Privacy Pools system, raised $3.5 million from investors including Balaji Srinivasan and Coinbase Ventures to expand its compliant‑focused privacy tools beyond Ethereum, after processing $6 million in transactions and adding features that prevent illicit fund mixing.
🐳 Tether invested in Ledn, a firm that specializes in bitcoin‑backed loans and has issued more than $2.8 billion to date, with expectations of topping $1 billion more in 2025 and already generating over $100 million in yearly revenue.
🤖 Bitfury, a major Bitcoin mining company, launched a $1 billion “Ethical Technology & AI” investment plan that will start by deploying $200 million in the next year toward areas like artificial intelligence, quantum research, and digital identity tools designed to give people more control over their data.
