Federal bank regulator the OCC granted final approval on 6th November, 2026 to charter Coinbase National Trust Company, Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) said Monday. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s decision puts the exchange’s custody business under a federal regulatory framework.
At a Glance
- The OCC turned Coinbase’s April conditional approval into a final charter last Friday, the company said in a blog post.
- Coinbase says it has safeguarded digital assets for over 14 years and calls itself the leading crypto custodian globally.
- The OCC’s April decision letter states that the new trust bank will not be an insured depository institution.
- The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) sued the OCC in October, calling 21 trust bank approvals unlawful.
The charter follows April’s conditional approval
The OCC issued its preliminary conditional approval in Corporate Decision #1370, dated 04/02/2026. That decision covered Coinbase National Trust Company (CNTC), a new national trust bank in New York wholly owned by Coinbase Global. It also let the regulator modify, suspend, or rescind the approval until final approval came through. Last Friday’s decision closes that window.
Coinbase described the charter as the next chapter for its custody business. “Custody is foundational to our business,” the company wrote in its announcement. It described the charter as a way to bring federal uniformity to its custody capabilities.
The OCC decision sets a narrow scope. CNTC will provide digital asset custody as a fiduciary, primarily for institutional clients. Its custody clients can reach staking, Prime Trading, and Prime Financing through Coinbase affiliates, though the trust bank won’t provide those services itself.
The federal charter queue extends beyond crypto custodians. Revolut also won conditional OCC approval for a US bank charter this year.
Introducing Coinbase National Trust Company, our federally chartered trust company. OCC approved. https://t.co/jhqyDdFyLk
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) November 9, 2026
Custody moves from a state charter to a federal one
Coinbase’s custody business sits today in Coinbase Custody Trust Company (CCTC). That entity received a New York limited purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in 2018, according to Coinbase. Coinbase Inc.’s BitLicense dates to 2017, the company added.
Coinbase pitched the OCC approval as building on that NYDFS foundation. The company said the charter aligns digital asset custody with the traditional financial infrastructure that institutions and individuals already rely on. For risk teams that already deal with OCC-supervised trust banks, a federally chartered crypto custodian could be an easier vendor to approve.
The approval adds a federal custodian to the patchwork of crypto regulations in the United States.
Institutional clients with assets at CCTC have a practical item to check. They can ask Coinbase which legal entity holds their assets today and when their custody agreements will move to CNTC. Coinbase’s announcement does not give a client-level transfer schedule.
Community bankers have sued over the charter rule
ICBA filed suit against the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould on 10/02/2026 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The case number is 1:26-cv-03441. The complaint challenges the OCC’s March 2026 National Bank Chartering rule and Interpretive Letter 1176.
ICBA argues the rule and the letter exceed the OCC’s authority under the National Bank Act. The complaint says the OCC has approved or conditionally approved 21 trust banks, “at least 13 of which are crypto companies.” It singles out Protego Holdings’ approval as a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Coinbase’s announcement does not mention the lawsuit. Two questions sit open after the approval. One is how fast client assets move from CCTC. The other is how a court ruling against the OCC rule would treat charters already granted.
The schedule that matters now is the migration. Under the OCC’s April decision, Coinbase will move its entire custody business from CCTC to CNTC over a three-year de novo period. Until that transfer finishes, Coinbase will run custody under a New York state charter and a federal one at the same time.
