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 would expand its federally supervised crypto custody services for institutions.
In Friday’s announcement, the exchange framed the filing as an extension of its regulated, security-focused push for large clients (ETF sponsors, corporations and advisors) focused on custody and fiat services adjacent to multi-blockchain staking. The company did not provide a review timeline and said the request does not affect operations at Crypto.com Custody Trust Company, its chartered non-custodiary trust in New Hampshire that already serves institutions as a qualified custodian.
A national trust bank is a limited purpose national bank supervised by the OCC to have trust company powers. In practice, it can provide custody, escrow and other fiduciary services nationwide; is not a full-service commercial bank and does not accept FDIC-insured deposits or make traditional loans. The OCC’s framework recognizes chartered banks that limit their operations to fiduciary activities under 12 USC ยง 27(a), and its materials on fiduciary operations describe the fiduciary standards and recordkeeping requirements that apply.
There is a recent precedent. In 2021, the OCC conditionally approved the conversion of Anchorage Trust Company to Anchorage Digital Bank, NA, combining the decision with a detailed operating agreement, an example of the customized conditions attached to digital asset trust statutes. The OCC also granted preliminary conditional approval that year to Paxos National Trust in New York.
Other major crypto companies have followed this path in 2025.
Coinbase filed an application earlier this month to organize Coinbase National Trust Company, a de novo, unsecured national trust company based in New York, according to its application posted on the OCC’s digital asset licensing portal. Circle applied on June 30 to establish the First National Digital Currency Bank, NA, to subject oversight of USDC reserves and institutional custody to 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 supervision rather than an OCC national trust bank) and remains a benchmark for the state charter model along with the BitLicense regimes.
For retail users, nothing changes immediately.
A filing is not an approval, and Crypto.com’s proposal targets institutional custody rather than consumer deposit accounts. If an OCC statute is passed and maintained, the effects would likely be indirect: Federal oversight can make it easier for large counterparties to use a provider’s fiduciary services under one set of rules, which in turn can influence the market “connections” visible to everyday investors over time: how assets are segregated and verified, what products appear through ETFs or advisors, and how liquidity moves between locations. It wouldn’t turn the stock exchange into a bank that accepts deposits.
The OCC generally does not comment on pending applications. Previous cryptocurrency approvals came with customized conditions and deadlines, underscoring that results are not guaranteed and that the scope of any statute is defined on a case-by-case basis.
