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Coinbase secured a full national trust charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on November 9, 2026, the company said, moving its custody business into federal banking oversight. The approval upgrades its conditional status but does not turn the crypto exchange into a deposit-taking, full-service bank.
Summary
Key takeaways
- Coinbase completed the OCC’s approval process after compliance work and hiring.
- The trust charter covers custody and payments, not retail deposits or lending.
- A banking group is challenging the OCC’s crypto charter authority.
What Coinbase’s national trust charter permits
Coinbase’s national trust charter allows federally regulated custody and payments services. Its main business is fiduciary custody of digital assets; retail deposits, lending and fractional reserve banking fall outside its scope.
The entity, Coinbase National Trust Company, was established from scratch rather than acquired. Coinbase submitted its application on October 3, 2025, and conditional approval was granted on April 2, 2026. Full approval followed months of compliance-system development, personnel hiring and regulatory review, Coinbase said.
The company retains its New York state trust charter and BitLicense. Its application sets out a three-year transition for the custody business, adding federal oversight rather than immediately replacing its state licensing framework.
The GENIUS Act’s role in federal trust approvals
The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, enables federal trust banks to issue compliant stablecoins. The law established a framework for payment stablecoin issuers and accelerated crypto firms’ pursuit of federal trust charters.
Under President Donald Trump, the OCC has welcomed crypto firms and stablecoins, including granting conditional trust status to World Liberty Financial, which is linked to Trump’s family. That approach contrasts with earlier years, when federal banking, securities and derivatives regulators resisted crypto firms’ entry into traditional finance.
Ripple’s approval and the challenge to OCC authority
Ripple received its full OCC trust charter on October 26, 2026, following conditional approval on December 12, 2025. Coinbase and Ripple now hold the same type of federal license, although Coinbase’s charter centers on custody.
RLUSD, the stablecoin issued by Ripple, currently has a market capitalization estimated between $2.5 billion and $2.6 billion. Its charter puts the firm in a position to operate a stablecoin business under federal oversight.
The Independent Community Bankers of America has sued the OCC over its grants of trust charters to crypto firms. The group alleges that the regulator exceeded its authority.
A federal framework for a substantial custody business
Coinbase’s national trust charter brings federal oversight to a custody operation that held $245.7 billion in institutional assets as of mid-2025. Total assets on the platform reached $376 billion at the end of 2025.
Coinbase Vice Chairman Ryan VanGrack framed the approval as part of a broader move into U.S. financial infrastructure. “The OCC’s approval is another major step in integrating digital assets into the core infrastructure of the American financial system,” he said in a statement.
The transition leaves Coinbase operating with both federal and state authorizations: its New York trust charter and BitLicense remain in place alongside the full OCC charter.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
