A banking lobby group in the United States is considering legal action against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over the agency granting national trust bank charters to crypto firms.

An unnamed source familiar with “the lobby’s thinking” has informed The Guardian that the Bank Policy Institute is planning to sue the OCC for ignoring earlier warnings from banking groups and state regulators and moving ahead with its reinterpretation of federal licensing rules to grant national trust bank charters to crypto firms. According to the group, this could potentially put Americans and the financial system at risk.

Under the leadership of Jonathan Gould, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, the OCC granted the first batch of conditional national trust bank charter approvals to crypto firms, including Ripple, BitGo, and Paxos, among others. Since then, several other firms have pursued similar approvals.

Once approved, the national trust bank charter will allow these companies to operate as trust banks and offer custody and asset safekeeping services.

In October, the BPI issued a statement urging the OCC to reject applications from crypto firms, including Ripple and Circle, as it argues that granting such charters could put the financial system at risk.

“BPI cautions that endorsing this pathway and allowing firms to choose a lighter regulatory touch while offering bank-like products could blur the statutory boundary of what it means to be a “bank,” heighten systemic risk and undermine the credibility of the national banking charter itself,” it said at the time.

According to The Guardian, the BPI has yet to decide whether it intends to pursue legal action against the OCC. However, the report noted that the BPI was among a group of banks that had previously taken legal action against the Federal Reserve in late 2024 over its stress testing framework, which the central bank later agreed to reconsider.

Similar warnings over the OCC’s crypto charter approvals have been issued by the Independent Community Bankers of America, which represents thousands of small lenders. Most recently, the ICBA urged the OCC to pull or change its proposal for issuing licenses to crypto firms.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Trump-linked World Liberty Financial applied for a charter in January, and the move has drawn a lot of scrutiny from Senator Elizabeth Warren over potential conflicts of interest.

However, during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Gould said that the agency would continue to process the application.

Bitcoin price is eyeing a technical breakout from an ascending parallel channel pattern as institutional demand returns for the bellwether asset.

According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price rose 4.2% in the past 24 hours, trading at $70,197 at press time. Now, charts suggest Bitcoin could see more recovery over the following sessions.

On the daily chart, Bitcoin price has formed an ascending parallel channel pattern following its sharp drop in early February. The popular bullish continuation pattern hints at sustained gains as long as an asset’s price remains within the two trendlines that define the corridor. 

Further, a breakout from the upper side of the channel tends to accelerate bullish momentum for the related asset.

At the time of writing, technical indicators seemed to suggest that Bitcoin price is on the cusp of such a breakout from the pattern. The 20-day and 50-day moving averages are closing in on a bullish crossover, while the Supertrend flashed green as BTC price moved above it.

As such, $73,226, which aligns with the 50-day SMA, is the most immediate key resistance level traders would be keeping an eye on. A sharp rebound from it could springboard its price to around $86,500, a level that had previously served as a key support area during most of January this year.

On the contrary, if Bitcoin price falls below $67,674, the 20-day SMA, the bullish forecast would be invalidated. Bears could then drag BTC price back to the $65,000 key psychological support level.

A major catalyst that has been providing support for Bitcoin’s recent rebound is the surging demand from institutional investors for the asset.

According to data from SoSoValue, the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded over $1.35 billion in net inflows over the past two weeks. This marked the first time these investment products managed to draw in back-to-back weekly inflows since early October last year. Additionally, March has also marked the first positive month for these funds after four consecutive months of bleeding.

Meanwhile, firms like Strategy have also played a key role in supporting price action. In its latest filing, the firm noted that it bought $1.28 billion worth of BTC, pushing its total holding valuation to $56.04 billion.

Ether (ETH) climbed back above $2,000 on Monday as the altcoin’s derivatives market activity intensified across major exchanges. Data shows more than 110,000 Ether flowed into derivatives platforms, while a key leverage indicator surged to new highs. 

The activity points to a rapid buildup of speculative positioning, suggesting traders are preparing for increased volatility as ETH attempts to break out of its monthly trading range. 

Ether derivatives inflows meet rising leverage ratio

Ether derivatives exchanges recorded a netflow of 110,343 ETH on March 7, the third-largest spike in 2026. A larger move occurred on Feb. 6, when ETH rallied roughly 13% from its yearly low at $1,736. 

CryptoQuant data shows that the earlier spikes in derivatives inflows frequently preceded short-term drawdowns or periods of sharp volatility.

At the same time, Ether’s estimated leverage ratio climbed to a record 0.78 on Wednesday, exceeding the previous high of 0.778 recorded on Jan. 1. The metric tracks the amount of open interest relative to exchange reserves, and it is widely used to gauge how aggressively traders employ borrowed capital.

A higher reading means a larger share of the positions rely on leverage. Such conditions tend to amplify the price move in either direction as liquidations build across the derivatives markets.

Related: Banks will run RWAs on two blockchain rails, says RedStone co-founder

Key liquidity sits near $2,050

Ether trades inside a monthly range between $1,800 and $2,000 following a swing failure pattern near $2,150 last Wednesday. The rejection signaled profit-taking above local highs, and the price retraced to the internal liquidity levels near $1,900 and $1,950 formed early last week.

The one-hour chart now shows a bullish pivot on the one-hour timeframe, which tracks the recovery on Monday after a liquidity sweep happened near $1,908 on Sunday. 

The market’s current attention may shift toward the supply zone between $2,050 and $2,100 formed late last week. A clear breakout above that range and establishing it as support may allow ETH to break significantly above $2,150.

The seven-day liquidation data from CoinGlass shows a dense cluster of short positions above the current price. Roughly $273 million in cumulative short-liquidation leverage sits near $2,030.

Large concentrations of short liquidations often act as magnet levels for the price. A move into that zone may trigger forced buybacks from the overleveraged short positions, which may accelerate the upside volatility if tagged in quick succession.

Crypto analyst Cyril-DeFi noted that ETH/USD is also testing a long-term ascending trendline that has supported the price several times since the last market cycle. The analyst said,  

“Every time the price touched this support, it eventually led to a strong bounce. Right now, the $1.9k–$2k area looks like a key level that could determine the next move.”

Related: Crypto funds gain $619M as markets hold up despite oil and war fears