Crypto.com has applied to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter, a step it says will expand its federally supervised crypto depository services for institutions.
In Friday’s announcement, the exchange framed the application as an extension of its regulated, security-first push for large clients — ETF sponsors, companies and advisers — focusing on custody and adjacent staking services across multiple blockchains. The company did not provide a review timeline and said the application does not affect operations at Crypto.com Custody Trust Company, its New Hampshire-chartered, non-depository trust that already serves institutions as a qualified custodian.
A national trust bank is a limited purpose national bank that is overseen by the OCC for trust company powers. In practice, it can provide custody, storage and other trust services nationwide; it is not a full-service commercial bank and does not take FDIC-insured deposits or make traditional loans. The OCC’s framework recognizes charter banks that limit operations to trust activities under 12 USC § 27(a), and its trust operating materials describe the fiduciary standards and recordkeeping requirements that apply.
There is recent precedent. In 2021, the OCC conditionally approved Anchorage Trust Company’s conversion to Anchorage Digital Bank, NA, pairing the decision with a detailed operating agreement — an example of the tailored conditions attached to trust charters for digital assets. The OCC also granted provisional conditional approval that year to Paxos National Trust in New York.
Other major crypto firms have moved down this path in 2025.
Coinbase filed earlier this month to organize Coinbase National Trust Company, a de novo, uninsured national trust company headquartered in New York, according to its application published on the OCC’s digital asset licensing portal. Circle filed on June 30 to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, NA to bring USDC reserves oversight and institutional custody under an OCC charter.
Not all routes are federal.
Gemini Trust Company operates under a New York limited purpose trust charter issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) on October 5, 2015 – state oversight rather than a national OCC trust bank – and remains a reference point for the state charter model along with BitLicense regimes.
For retail users, nothing changes immediately.
An application is not an approval, and Crypto.com’s proposition is aimed at institutional custodians rather than consumer deposit accounts. If an OCC charter is approved and stands, the effects are likely to be indirect: federal oversight could make it easier for large counterparties to use a provider’s trust services under one set of rules, which in turn could affect the market’s “plumbing” visible to ordinary investors over time — how assets are segregated and verified, what products are shown via ETFs or liquidity advisers across the board, and how liquidity advisers. That would not make the stock exchange a depository bank.
The OCC generally does not comment on pending applications. Previous crypto endorsements have come with tailored conditions and timelines, emphasizing that outcomes are not certain and that the scope of any charter is defined on a case-by-case basis.
