Crypto.com Files U.S. OCC Charter to Operate as National Trust Bank

Crypto.com has formally filed an application with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank. The move would allow the Singapore-based exchange to operate a federally regulated entity in the United States focused on institutional crypto custody and related fiduciary services.

According to the company, the charter would give it nationwide authority to offer digital-asset custody and other fiduciary services to large clients—including corporations, fund managers, and advisers that require federally regulated custodians. The application fits into Crypto.com’s multiyear effort to present itself as a compliance-first operator in a sector still grappling with uneven oversight.

Crypto.com said its existing New Hampshire–chartered affiliate, Crypto.com Custody Trust Company, will keep handling institutional accounts as usual. The new OCC application is separate from that operation and will not affect current custody services. The regulator has not set a review deadline for the filing.

A national trust bank is a specialized institution permitted to safeguard assets and manage trusts but barred from taking retail deposits or issuing loans. These entities operate under the same fiduciary and record-keeping standards that govern traditional trust banks, though their business is limited to custody and administration.

Regulators have approved only a handful of similar charters. Anchorage Digital Bank secured one in 2021, becoming the first federally regulated crypto bank, while Paxos National Trust received preliminary approval later that year. Both cases required detailed operating agreements that spelled out capital, risk, and compliance obligations unique to digital-asset custody.

Several other major crypto companies have also filed applications for federal trust charters in 2025. Coinbase submitted paperwork to establish Coinbase National Trust Company in New York, while Circle Internet Financial applied in June to create First National Digital Currency Bank, a federally regulated entity to oversee reserves backing its USDC stablecoin.

Not all players see a need for an OCC charter. Gemini Trust Company, licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services, continues to operate under a state trust framework that predates federal involvement in the sector.

The charter would not affect retail users or change how individuals trade or hold crypto on Crypto.com. Its primary impact would be on institutional clients, providing federally supervised custody and recordkeeping for large accounts, including asset storage, transaction reconciliation, and compliance with fiduciary standards.

Federal oversight could make Crypto.com a more attractive partner for banks and institutional investors that require custody services with regulated trust companies. A single federal regulator would also simplify supervision of its institutional operations, potentially improving compliance and reporting standards for tokenized assets and crypto-based financial products.

The OCC does not comment on pending applications. Historically, approvals for digital-asset trust banks have included customized operational conditions tailored to each applicant’s business model, ensuring regulatory requirements align with the company’s activities and risk profile.

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