Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has applied for a national trust company statute with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), according to a Friday announcement shared with CoinDesk, as the company looks to expand its regulated digital asset custody business.
If passed, the statute would establish Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), a federally regulated entity focused on fiduciary custody and related services for digital assets. Kraken said the trust would primarily serve institutions and clients seeking bank-level custody protections under the OCC’s oversight.
The filing marks Payward’s latest effort to expand its regulatory footprint in the US as crypto firms increasingly pursue traditional financial charters to attract institutional clients and navigate a changing regulatory environment.
“A national trust company provides the certainty institutions require and establishes the infrastructure to build the next generation of custody,” Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in the statement.
The move comes as crypto firms increasingly seek federal banking charters, licenses and approvals under the Trump administration’s more industry-friendly approach to digital asset regulation.
Kraken’s broader expansion strategy has included a series of acquisitions aimed at building a regulated trading and payments infrastructure ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO).
In addition to its $1.5 billion acquisition of retail futures platform NinjaTrader in 2025, Payward agreed in April to acquire crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million, adding a full suite of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) licenses covering brokerage, clearing and exchange operations.
This week, the company also reached a $600 million deal to buy Hong Kong-based payments company Reap Technologies, expanding Kraken’s push into stablecoin-powered cross-border payments and card infrastructure in Asia.
The proposed trust company would complement Kraken Financial, Wyoming’s special purpose depository institution (SPDI) created in 2020. Kraken Financial became the first digital asset bank to secure a Federal Reserve master account, giving it direct access to the US payments system.
Payward framed the OCC’s request as part of a broader “multi-statute” strategy aimed at offering different types of regulated financial services under both state and federal oversight.
Under the proposal, PNTC would rely on Payward’s existing custody, risk management and compliance infrastructure while expanding access to customers who require a qualified, federally regulated custodian.
Cryptocurrency companies have increasingly explored banking and trust statutes as regulators clarify rules around custody and institutional participation in digital assets. National trust statutes, overseen by the OCC, have previously been applied by crypto-native companies seeking broader legitimacy and nationwide operations without relying solely on state-by-state licenses.
Sethi said the company’s Wyoming SPDI and potential OCC fiduciary charter would serve as “complementary pillars” of Payward’s banking strategy as the U.S. regulatory framework for digital assets continues to evolve.
Read more: Kraken Parent Payward Closes $550M Bitnomial Deal, Securing Full CFTC Derivatives Stack
