Coinbase received a full national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), with the chartering process completed on 6 November 2026 and the approval announced on Monday.
The third big crypto charter of 2026
The charter upgrades the conditional approval Coinbase got on 2 April 2026, after applying in October 2025, and puts Coinbase National Trust Company under direct federal supervision rather than state-level oversight. The company announced the approval in a blog post, saying: “This charter allows us to bring clear and consistent federal uniformity to our industry-leading custody capabilities”.
The charter is the OCC’s third headline crypto trust approval of 2026, after Circle won final approval in July and Ripple on 26 October, decisions that point to federal charters for crypto custody becoming routine rather than exceptional. Block applied for its own banking charter in September. For custody desks choosing where to park institutional assets, a federal option alongside state charters is now standard on the menu. Coinbase has served as a custodian for more than 14 years, the company says.
Community bankers lost this round. The Independent Community Bankers of America urged the OCC in December 2025 to reject the application, arguing Coinbase has “demonstrably flawed risk and control functions”, and the American Bankers Association asked the regulator in February 2026 to slow its review of crypto charter requests. The approval went ahead anyway, and our October report on the ICBA lawsuit shows the ICBA has already sued the OCC over extending national trust charters to crypto firms, so a further challenge after this grant is a live risk for custody clients planning multi-year arrangements.
Not a bank: what the charter does not allow
A trust charter is not a commercial bank licence. The charter does not allow Coinbase to take ordinary retail deposits, make loans or issue stablecoins, and it does not automatically connect the company to Federal Reserve payment systems; that requires a separate application under the Fed’s account access guidelines.
Coinbase plans to move its existing custody business from Coinbase Custody Trust Company, regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services, to the national entity over three years, and disclosed no financial impact from the charter in its announcement. The migration leaves a long transition window in which clients sit under two regulators. It also follows the custody theme this site has tracked across venues, from the Ramp charter application filed with the OCC in October to the Citi and Coinbase work on automated stablecoin-to-fiat conversion for institutional clients.
The OCC has attached conditions. The trust must hold at least $60 million in Tier 1 capital and hold enough liquid assets to cover 180 days of operating expenses during its first three years.
