Coinbase’s trust charter clears the OCC gauntlet—without making it a retail bank

Coinbase National Trust Company’s national trust bank charter took effect on Friday after final approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), clearing the way for the crypto exchange to expand federally supervised digital asset custody. Coinbase applied for the charter in October 2025 and received preliminary approval in April 2026.

The authorization allows Coinbase National Trust Company to hold digital assets on behalf of clients as a fiduciary. Coinbase plans to offer institutional clients segregated custody accounts, with access to staking, financing and trading through other Coinbase entities. Its charter application also outlined plans to explore digital asset payment products and custody services that would allow clients to interact with select smart contracts.

The approval does not authorize the trust company to accept deposits from regular customers, make conventional commercial loans or engage in fractional reserve banking. Coinbase has offered regulated custody since 2018, when Coinbase Custody Trust Company received a limited purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services. “Custody is foundational to our business,” the company said, describing itself as the leading crypto custodian globally. The charter will “bring clear and consistent federal uniformity” to its custody operations, it added.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on Monday: “Trusted custody is essential for bringing more of the financial system onchain. Coinbase National Trust Company is another step for building that foundation.” The OCC granted conditional approval in April, after which Coinbase strengthened its internal systems, hired new employees and completed regulatory reviews. Bloomberg reported that the charter could support Coinbase’s stablecoin operations, including issuing tokens and managing them for other crypto companies.

Coinbase joins Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos among crypto companies that have received OCC national trust bank charters. Crypto.com and Stripe-owned Bridge received conditional approval, while Kraken parent Payward and EDX Markets are still pursuing charters. Block applied in September, while a trust company linked to Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial received conditional approval in August for a charter tied to its USD1 stablecoin.

The approvals have drawn legal and political scrutiny. The Independent Community Bankers of America filed suit Friday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against the OCC, challenging its authority to charter national trust banks for crypto firms. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has also argued that the OCC’s crypto charter approvals, including Coinbase’s, are illegal.