TLDR
Payward, the parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has applied for a US national trust bank charter to launch a federally regulated digital-asset custodian.
- Payward is seeking an OCC national trust company charter to create Payward National Trust Company focused on regulated digital-asset custody and fiduciary services.
- The charter would complement Krakens Wyoming crypto bank and Fed master account, strengthening its ability to serve institutions that require a qualified custodian under US rules.
- Approval is not guaranteed, and the OCC review, industry pushback, and evolving US crypto regulation will shape whether this becomes a new benchmark for regulated crypto custody.
Deep Dive
1. What Payward Is Applying For
Payward has filed with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust company charter that would create Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), a federally supervised trust bank focused on digital assets. Reports from multiple outlets confirm the filing and describe PNTC as a vehicle to provide crypto custody and fiduciary services, primarily to institutions that need a regulated, bank-level custodian for digital assets. PNTC would sit under OCC oversight, which means federal standards on compliance, capital, and risk management rather than a patchwork of state licenses.
A national trust charter does not make Payward a full commercial bank, but it can let the entity act as a qualified custodian, hold assets in trust, and operate nationwide under a single federal regulator.
2. Why A Trust Charter Matters
Payward already controls Kraken Financial, a Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution that holds a Federal Reserve master account and connects directly to core US payment rails. The new OCC trust charter is framed as a second pillar of a "multi-charter" strategy, pairing state-level banking powers with a federal trust platform for custody.
Other major crypto firms, including Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos, have already received or pursued similar OCC trust structures, so Payward is positioning Kraken in the same regulatory league as those competitors. For institutions like asset managers, ETF issuers, and corporates, this kind of federally regulated, qualified custodian is often a prerequisite to holding or offering crypto at scale.
If approved, Krakens group could become a more acceptable counterparty for large US institutions that currently avoid exchanges without strong federal banking credentials.
3. What Comes Next And Key Risks
The OCC still has to review and decide on Paywards application, and there is no public deadline. Banking trade groups have criticized the OCCs use of national trust charters for crypto firms, arguing that it stretches federal bank licensing and could give stablecoin and custody players bank-like access without full bank rules. Political change or regulatory pushback could slow or condition approvals.
For crypto users, the main thing to watch is whether the OCC grants the charter and under what conditions, plus how quickly other large exchanges or custodians follow or expand similar structures. That will signal how far US regulators are willing to integrate crypto infrastructure into the supervised banking system.
Conclusion
A major crypto group behind Kraken is trying to move deeper into the US banking perimeter by adding a federally supervised trust company on top of its existing Wyoming crypto bank. If regulators approve the OCC charter, it would reinforce a trend where leading exchanges evolve into regulated custody and payment institutions, potentially making institutional adoption easier but also tying key parts of cryptos infrastructure more tightly to US banking and policy decisions.
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