Coinbase got conditional approval from the OCC for its trust, a step toward federal oversight for its offerings to replace the current state by state licensing approach.
Coinbase announced on Thursday that it has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Coinbase National Trust Company, a non-insured national trust bank to be headquartered in New York.
The approval marks a step toward Coinbase operating as a federally regulated digital asset custodian — and the latest milestone in a sweeping regulatory shift reshaping how crypto firms interact with the U.S. banking system.
The preliminary green light requires Coinbase to build out compliance systems, hire key staff, pass regulatory reviews, and demonstrate strong risk management and anti-money-laundering controls before it can secure a full charter.
A national trust bank charter gives Coinbase a single federal regulator — the OCC — in place of the patchwork of state money transmitter licenses it currently holds, allowing it to offer custody, safekeeping, and related digital asset services in a fiduciary capacity as a qualified custodian under SEC regulations.
In yesterday’s blog post, the largest U.S. centralized exchange noted that it does not plan to become a commercial bank:
“Coinbase is not becoming a commercial bank. We will not be taking retail deposits. We will not be engaging in fractional reserve banking.”
Looking ahead, Coinbase’s chief legal officer told CNBC that the company plans to explore payment infrastructure products alongside its custody business, with an eye on expanding stablecoin use — particularly USDC — as a mainstream global payment method.
Coinbase joins a crowded field of crypto firms racing to secure federal charters under the OCC’s current leadership.
Circle applied for its own national trust bank license — to be called First National Digital Currency Bank — and received conditional approval in December 2025. Crypto.com similarly secured conditional OCC approval for its Foris Dax National Trust Bank in February.
The trend has not gone uncontested: the Bank Policy Institute, whose members include JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America, is reportedly weighing a lawsuit against the OCC over what it sees as an uneven regulatory playing field.
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