Coinbase said on Monday that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has given final approval to Coinbase National Trust Company, its national trust bank, CoinDesk reported. The OCC had granted only preliminary conditional approval on 2 Apr 2026. CryptoWatchDesk last covered the charter wave when Ripple won final approval for its own trust bank on 26 Oct.
The charter changes who supervises the business more than what it does. In its April letter the OCC described a bank that would provide digital-asset custody as a fiduciary, “primarily for institutional clients”, and that Coinbase would move that business over from Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC, a New York State-chartered trust company, “over the three-year de novo period”.
That makes the final step the start of a migration rather than the end of one. We could not find a dated timetable for the move beyond that April description.
The scope remains narrow. As CoinDesk puts it, the bank offers federally regulated custody and payments-related services but does not take deposits or lend. In April the OCC said the bank would offer Coinbase’s staking, prime trading and prime financing only as a finder, with the affiliates providing the services.
“We’ve spent years asking for clear rules and rigorous oversight, and today’s approval of our national trust charter puts more of our business behind that commitment,” Coinbase Vice Chairman Ryan VanGrack said in a statement quoted by CoinDesk.
Coinbase joins Ripple among crypto-native firms that have reached final approval, CoinDesk notes, while others hold conditional approvals as the OCC implements the GENIUS Act, the US stablecoin law. The Independent Community Bankers of America has sued the OCC over the charters, a case we covered when the group filed it and which CoinDesk says is still pending.
We could not locate the OCC’s final-approval document on its site on Monday; its public record there shows the April decision. The final approval rests on Coinbase’s announcement as reported by CoinDesk and Crypto Briefing.
This article is for information only and is not investment advice.