Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to operate as a federally chartered trust company.
A federally chartered trust company, or national trust bank, is a special-purpose financial institution that is not a bank but can provide services like asset custody and inverstment management. A national trust may not accept demand deposits or issue loans.
The approval was announced by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and is emblematic of what many other digital asset firms are seeking: federal regulation. It also lends credibility to the firm, as approval is arduous.
.@Coinbase has received conditional OCC charter approval.
We’re not becoming a bank, it’s a trust company. We’re bringing the infrastructure of crypto under federal regulatory oversight.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) April 2, 2026
In 2025, the OCC received 14 de novo charter applications with many being digital asset focused firms.
Other platforms seeking similar approval include World Liberty Financial, Laser Digital, Morgan Stanley, Zerohash, Revolut, and EDX Trust.
