US crypto firms seek OCC trust charters

TLDR

Several major US crypto firms are pursuing OCC national trust bank charters to replace fragmented state licensing with a single federal regime for custody and related services.

1. OCC national trust charters let crypto firms act as federally supervised trust banks, and players like Anchorage Digital, Paxos, Krakens parent and Crypto.com are already in or applying.
2. These charters use federal preemption to override many state rules, enabling nationwide operations that are more attractive to large institutions and ETF-style products.
3. State regulators and some lawmakers are pushing back, so future approvals, court fights and parallel federal bills such as the CLARITY Act will decide how far this model scales.

Deep Dive

1. What The Charters Are

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charters national banks and national trust banks, which can offer custody and fiduciary services under direct federal supervision.

According to a recent overview of OCC crypto charters, Anchorage Digital was an early pioneer and now operates as a federally chartered crypto bank, while firms like Payward (Krakens parent) and Citadel backed EDX have applied for national trust charters, and Crypto.com has conditional approval for a federal national trust bank.

Separately, Paxos converted to a full OCC national trust bank charter in December 2025 and now provides regulated infrastructure and custody to large fintech clients on a single OCC stack, as noted in coverage of its Dogecoin integration with enterprise platforms.

2. Impact On Market Structure

Historically, US exchanges and custodians had to secure dozens of state licenses, with especially heavy regimes like New Yorks BitLicense, which limited where and how they could serve users.

With an OCC national trust bank charter, a firm can rely on federal preemption so federal rules override many conflicting state consumer and licensing laws, allowing more uniform nationwide services under one regulator, as highlighted in the OCC charter analysis.

Anchorage Digitals OCC status already underpins its role as a qualified custodian and settlement hub for institutional DeFi and trading, giving banks, ETFs and asset managers a compliant path into on chain markets that avoids offshore venues.

3. Risks And What To Watch

State regulators, through groups like the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, argue that OCC preemption weakens local consumer protection and strips states of enforcement and audit powers, according to the same national charter overview.

There is also political resistance: some senators have challenged the OCC over crypto banking charters, and banks are lobbying fiercely around related bills such as the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, which would further codify federal market structure for crypto.

Key things to watch are whether the OCC continues granting new national trust charters, whether courts uphold broad preemption against state challenges, and how any federal market structure bill interacts with this bank charter path.

Conclusion

US crypto firms seeking OCC national trust charters are effectively voting to become part of the federally supervised banking system, trading higher compliance costs for nationwide reach and institutional credibility.

If regulators keep approving strong applicants and courts uphold federal preemption, the center of gravity for regulated US crypto custody and settlement is likely to shift toward OCC chartered entities, while state regulators and traditional banks fight to retain influence over how far that model goes.