Originally published by Decrypt on November 9, 2026, at 19:50:36 UTC+08:00.
Coinbase said on Monday that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had granted final approval to charter Coinbase National Trust Company. According to the exchange, the OCC approved its application the preceding Friday.
The charter concerns Coinbase’s custody business, which holds digital assets on behalf of institutional clients. The company said it would allow that business to expand under a federal regulatory framework and bring greater consistency to its trust activities.
A custody charter, not a commercial-bank expansion
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. The company said the national trust company builds on that foundation.
Final approval follows conditional OCC approval in April 2026, seven months earlier. At that time, Coinbase said it was not becoming a commercial bank and would neither accept retail deposits nor engage in fractional-reserve banking. It first applied for the national charter in 2025.
Coinbase described custody as foundational to its business and called itself the leading global crypto custodian. That ranking is the company’s characterization. CEO Brian Armstrong said on November 9 that trusted custody was essential to bringing more of the financial system onchain, describing the trust company as another step toward that goal.
Other crypto firms pursue trust charters
The approval places Coinbase alongside other crypto companies that had secured final national trust charter approvals:
- Circle received final approval in July 2026 for a trust bank to manage reserves backing its USDC stablecoin.
- Ripple received final approval in October 2026 for a trust bank behind its RLUSD stablecoin.
Other applications had not reached final approval. According to Reuters, Jack Dorsey’s Block applied in September for a charter to custody Bitcoin, while Kraken parent Payward filed an application in May. A trust company linked to Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial received conditional approval in August for a charter tied to its USD1 stablecoin.
Legal opposition remains
The OCC’s approach has faced challenges. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has argued that its crypto charter approvals, including Coinbase’s, are illegal.
The Independent Community Bankers of America has also sued the OCC, seeking to stop crypto firms from entering banking through what the group describes as a “side door.”