Coinbase received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter Coinbase National Trust Company, the exchange said on November 9, 2026. According to Coinbase, the OCC approved its application the previous Friday.
The company said the charter would allow it to expand its institutional digital-asset custody business under a federal regulatory framework. The reported development concerns custody infrastructure—not a move into retail deposit-taking.
A federal framework for custody
Coinbase has offered regulated custody since 2018, when Coinbase Custody Trust Company obtained a limited-purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services. The company said the new national trust company builds on that foundation and brings its trust activities into a consistent federal framework.
“Custody is foundational to our business,” Coinbase said, describing itself as the leading crypto custodian globally. It said the charter would “bring clear and consistent federal uniformity” to its custody operations.
CEO Brian Armstrong linked the approval to the company’s broader ambitions on November 9: “Trusted custody is essential for bringing more of the financial system onchain.” He called Coinbase National Trust Company “another step for building that foundation.”
Final approval followed conditional OCC approval in April, seven months earlier. At that time, Coinbase said it was not becoming a commercial bank and would neither take retail deposits nor engage in fractional-reserve banking. The exchange first applied for the charter in 2025.
Other crypto firms pursue trust charters
Coinbase’s approval followed two other final approvals in 2026:
- Circle, in July, for a trust bank to manage reserves backing its USDC stablecoin.
- Ripple, in October, for a trust bank behind its RLUSD stablecoin.
Other applications had not yet reached final approval. According to Reuters, Jack Dorsey’s Block applied in September for a charter to custody Bitcoin, while Kraken parent Payward filed an application in May. A trust company linked to Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial received conditional approval in August for a charter tied to its USD1 stablecoin.
The firms share a route toward federal trust oversight, but their stated purposes differ: Coinbase’s announcement centers on institutional custody, while the Circle and Ripple approvals concern trust banks connected to their stablecoins.
Legal opposition remains
The charter approvals have faced resistance. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has argued that the OCC’s crypto charter approvals, including Coinbase’s, are illegal. The Independent Community Bankers of America has also sued the OCC to stop crypto firms from entering banking through what the group describes as a “side door.”
For market-cycle context, the documented development is a change in the regulatory framework for Coinbase’s custody business. The report does not establish a resulting increase in institutional inflows or an effect on crypto prices.
Original publication: November 9, 2026, at 19:50:36 UTC+08:00. Source: Decrypt.
