Coinbase moves custody business under federal trust charter

Coinbase received final approval on Nov. 6 from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust charter, moving Coinbase National Trust Company’s custody work under federal oversight, according to the OCC’s filing record and Coinbase’s announcement.

• Coinbase filed its application on Oct. 3, 2025.
• The OCC granted preliminary conditional approval on April 2, 2026.
• The charter became effective on Nov. 6, 2026.

Coinbase announced the final approval on Nov. 9. The charter gives its trust company a federal regulatory framework for custody services. Custody means holding and safeguarding assets for clients; a fiduciary is responsible for acting in those clients’ interests.

What does the charter let Coinbase do?

The charter lets Coinbase National Trust Company operate as a federally chartered trust bank, with digital-asset custody at the center of its business. Coinbase said the approval will let it expand its custody capabilities under federal oversight.

That is a narrower role than a full-service bank. CoinDesk reported that the trust company cannot take ordinary deposits or make loans. The charter therefore concerns how Coinbase holds and safeguards client assets, rather than giving customers a conventional bank account or giving Coinbase a pool of deposits to lend.

Coinbase framed the approval as a step toward bringing its custody activities into a consistent federal framework. The company said the charter builds on its existing work with New York’s financial regulator, the Department of Financial Services.

How did Coinbase get from conditional approval to a final charter?

The OCC’s record shows the application moved through three dated steps: receipt in October 2025, approval in April 2026 and consummation, or completion, on Nov. 6. The April decision was preliminary and conditional; it did not authorize the trust company to begin business as a fully approved national trust bank.

Coinbase said it received final approval on the preceding Friday and described the development as the next stage for the custody services it has built over more than a decade. Its announcement did not give a timetable for moving customer accounts into the national trust company or detail which services will move there first.

Is this Coinbase’s first trust charter?

No. Coinbase said its relationship with New York’s Department of Financial Services began with a BitLicense for Coinbase Inc. in 2017. Coinbase Custody Trust Company received a New York limited-purpose trust charter in 2018.

The new OCC charter adds a federal framework for Coinbase National Trust Company’s trust activities. Coinbase said it will continue to build on the foundation developed with New York’s regulator. For customers and institutions weighing a custodian, the change is the level of oversight for the trust company; the approval does not turn Coinbase into a conventional deposit-taking bank.

Sources and documents

• OCC’s filing record — apps.occ.gov
• Coinbase’s announcement — coinbase.com