Coinbase has filed an application with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter, a step that could bring the crypto exchange under direct federal oversight and widen its ability to offer institutional financial services.
The company said the charter would allow it to expand beyond custody into activities such as payments and settlement while avoiding the complexity of winning licenses in every state. Unlike a full-service bank charter, the trust structure would not make Coinbase a deposit-taking lender.
“Coinbase has no intention of becoming a bank,” Greg Tusar, the firm’s vice president of institutional product, wrote in a blog post. “It is our firm belief that clear rules and the trust of our regulators and customers enable Coinbase to confidently innovate while ensuring proper oversight and security.”
Coinbase already operates Coinbase Custody Trust Company, a New York‑chartered entity licensed under the state’s BitLicense regime. That license, created in 2015, was one of the first state‑level frameworks for regulating crypto activity. While it gave Coinbase a compliant way to serve institutional clients, it also tethered the business to New York law.
A federal charter would effectively nationalize oversight, offering one set of rules rather than a patchwork of state approvals. For a company already managing billions in digital assets, the ability to scale services across the U.S. under a single regulator is a major attraction.
The timing comes as Washington regulators refine their stance on crypto. The OCC has previously clarified that national banks may custody digital assets, use stablecoins for payment activities and participate in blockchain‑based settlement networks, so long as risk management controls are in place.
Other crypto heavyweights have also been looking to the OCC. Circle, issuer of the USDC stablecoin, applied for a national trust charter in June. Ripple followed in July. Paxos, whose earlier conditional OCC approval lapsed, reapplied in August. Anchorage Digital, the first crypto firm to win such a charter in 2021, has since come through an OCC consent order over compliance controls.
The OCC’s history with crypto charters has been fraught. Its earlier attempt to create a “special purpose national bank” charter for fintechs was bogged down in lawsuits from state regulators, who argued it encroached on their authority. But the trust charter track is different—rooted in existing law and already tested in court—which is why crypto companies have gravitated to it.
Coinbase’s Broader Play
The trust application fits into Coinbase’s steady push into regulated infrastructure. The company already runs a futures business supervised by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and has hinted at ambitions around tokenized securities if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission provides a pathway.
Winning an OCC charter would also bolster Coinbase’s standing as a “qualified custodian” for investment advisers under SEC rules, an issue that has dogged the industry in recent years.
Approval is not automatic. The OCC typically imposes strict conditions on capital, liquidity, governance and anti‑money laundering controls. Anchorage’s experience shows the bar is high. Still, if Coinbase is granted a federal trust bank, it would put the exchange in the same category as traditional national trust companies—able to provide custody and settlement nationwide under one supervisor.
For Coinbase, a company already navigating multiple regulatory battles, that would be a crucial step in turning its sprawling licenses into a single, federally overseen hub for institutional finance.