Coinbase Secures Conditional OCC Approval for Federal Trust Charter

On April 2, 2026, Coinbase announced it received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Coinbase National Trust Company (CNTC), a strategic move to place its institutional crypto custody business under federal supervision. This approval, reported by Ledger Insights, Crowdfund Insider, and Coinbase's official blog, allows for custody, trust administration, and investment settlement across the U.S. without operating as a commercial bank. By end-2025, Coinbase Custody's assets under custody reached $376 billion, representing approximately 13% of the global crypto market capitalization. The decision, which follows a roughly six-month OCC review, integrates Coinbase into a growing cohort of crypto and payments firms, including Circle and Fidelity Digital Assets, that secured national trust charters in December 2025, underscoring a broader industry shift towards enhanced regulatory compliance.