Coinbase, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency platforms, reported on April 2 that it has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish the Coinbase National Trust Company. This announcement is part of the company’s strategy to provide regulatory clarity in the digital asset space.
“The right path for cryptocurrencies is to go through the system, not around it,” said Greg Tusar, co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional. The company emphasized that this action validates its approach to working within the existing regulatory framework and operating with high standards of responsibility.
What must be made clear is that Companies do not operate like traditional commercial banks. Coinbase specifically stated that it does not accept deposits from the retail public and does not engage in fractional reserve banking.
Instead, the new entity aims to provide unified federal oversight of assets in custody, which will bring consistency to custody operations and lay the foundation for the development of new products and services, such as payments and related solutions for both institutional and retail customers.
This decision comes a day after OCC regulatory amendments went into effect (effective April 1, 2026), clarifying and expanding the activities permitted by so-called “national trust banks” (national trust bank), eliminating the previous ambiguity regarding non-fiduciary operations.
It is important to understand in context what exactly National Trust Company stands for. It is a national banking organization directly supervised by the OCC. Mainly focused on fiduciary services and asset custodywithout having the full powers of a commercial bank (such as accepting retail deposits or granting loans). In general, Coinbase will be able to offer:
- Storage and safekeeping of digital assets (Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, etc.) and other financial assets. This includes secure storage of crypto assets for institutional and retail customers.
- Fiduciary management of custodial assets, where Coinbase acts as the responsible trustee of the custodial assets.
- Services related to asset management, such as position reporting, settlement, and reconciliation.
Coinbase will fully maintain its current oversight under the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) through the BitLicense, which took effect in 2015.
In a similar context, the Kraken exchange has also recently been regulated in the United States. Its subsidiary, Kraken Financial, acquired a Federal Reserve master account in March 2026; Direct access to central bank payment systemsas reported by CriptoNoticias.
Both decisions demonstrate the current trend of major cryptocurrency platforms becoming more integrated with traditional financial infrastructure under federal oversight.
Coinbase indicated that it continues to work closely with OCC staff to meet outstanding conditions and complete the process.
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