Crypto.com said it received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank, setting the stage for the exchange to expand its custody services under federal supervision.
The planned Foris Dax National Trust Bank, doing business as Crypto.com National Trust Bank, will operate as a limited purpose national trust bank. It would not accept deposits or issue loans, instead offering services such as custody, staking and trade settlement for digital assets, including those on its internal Cronos blockchain.
While Crypto.com already operates a qualified custodian, Crypto.com Custody Trust Co., regulated by the New Hampshire Banking Division, the OCC charter brings its institutional offerings under a single federal framework.
This has implications for issuers of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), asset managers and other institutional clients, who often prefer custodians with national supervision, which can streamline compliance and operational processes.
The National Charter offers this one-stop-shop structure, though only for trust services, not for traditional banking.
Crypto.com filed its application with the OCC in October. Although the conditional approval is not final, it marks a significant step forward. Last week, Striple’s stablecoin company Bridge won the first approval to also form a national trust bank.
These approvals see the companies join a growing group of crypto firms looking to build within a federal framework. In December, BitGo, Circle, Ripple, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets all received similar conditional approvals.
