Coinbase won the last approval it needed to run a federally chartered trust bank on Monday, November 9. The OCC wrapped up the chartering of Coinbase National Trust Company on Friday, November 6, according to the regulator's licensing records cited by crypto.news, and the exchange announced the final sign-off three days later, per Decrypt. That puts the exchange's institutional custody business under one federal regulator, replacing a setup that has run through New York state since 2018. Coinbase shares closed at $136.10 on Monday, up $1.34, or 0.99%, from Friday's $134.76 close, after trading in an $8.65 range between $131.10 and $139.75. The stock still sits about 58% below its 52-week high of $324.80, a gap the charter news did not close in one session.
The approval took about 13 months. Coinbase applied in October 2025, won conditional approval on April 2, 2026, and waited 218 days for the final sign-off on November 6.
The charter wave
Coinbase is the third crypto firm to complete the process in four months. Circle went first in July 2026, with its trust bank set up to hold the assets backing USDC; Ripple followed on October 26, with its bank set up for the reserves behind RLUSD; Coinbase closed the run on November 6 with a custody-first charter, per crypto.news and Decrypt.
| Firm | Charter completed | What the trust bank covers |
|---|---|---|
| Circle | July 2026 | Holding USDC reserves |
| Ripple | October 26, 2026 | Holding RLUSD reserves |
| Coinbase | November 6, 2026 | Institutional crypto custody |
The queue behind them stays long. Nearly two dozen national trust bank charters have been approved or conditionally approved by the OCC during the second Trump administration, including more than a dozen for crypto firms, per American Banker. Block applied in September to custody Bitcoin, Kraken parent Payward filed in May, and a trust firm tied to the Trump family's World Liberty Financial and its USD1 token got conditional approval in August, per Decrypt.
What the charter does, and what it does not
Under the approval, Coinbase National Trust Company can provide fiduciary custody for institutional clients, holding and moving digital assets in custody accounts, per crypto.news. Staking, prime trading and financing stay with Coinbase affiliates, with the trust bank acting as an intermediary rather than running those services itself. The existing custody business, run since 2018 through Coinbase Custody Trust Company under a New York limited-purpose trust charter, moves to the national trust over three years.
The limits are written into the approval. The trust bank cannot take ordinary retail deposits, make traditional loans, or issue stablecoins, and Coinbase has said it will not run fractional-reserve banking. Federal Reserve payment systems stay out of reach for now: access needs a separate application under the Fed's account access rules. The OCC set two hard numbers on the new bank: at least $60 million in Tier 1 capital, and liquid assets covering 180 days of operating expenses during its first three years.
Why it matters
A federal charter changes the compliance map for the largest US crypto exchange. One regulator replaces a state-by-state patchwork, and Coinbase can now pitch federally supervised custody to institutions that require it, a pitch that carried a $5 million fine and a lifted staking ban in New Jersey last week shows state rules still bite. The timing lines up with the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, which set a federal framework for payment stablecoins. Coinbase says its first job after approval is custody, with stablecoin issuance, servicing, white-label deals for other firms and payments to follow, per American Banker.
A lawsuit arrived with the charter. The ICBA, the trade group for community banks, sued the OCC on October 2 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing crypto firms gain federal banking status without the obligations of insured banks, and Senator Elizabeth Warren has argued the approvals are illegal, per Decrypt. Assets held at a national trust do not carry federal deposit insurance, a point the community bankers keep repeating. The litigation could take years, and a court could still tighten the rules for firms chartered under the OCC's disputed reading, per American Banker.
What to watch
- When the trust company starts operating and the first custody accounts move over, no date has been given yet.
- Whether Coinbase files a separate Federal Reserve application for direct payment-system access.
- Progress in the ICBA lawsuit against the OCC and any ruling on the regulator's chartering rule.
- Final decisions on the pending charter applications from Block and Kraken parent Payward.
- Tuesday, November 10: October CPI at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, the first inflation print before the December 8-9 Fed meeting.
Key points
- Coinbase's national trust company completed chartering on November 6, 2026, and the exchange announced the final approval on November 9.
- Institutional crypto custody moves under federal supervision, building on a New York trust charter held since 2018, with the custody business migrating over three years.
- Conditions include at least $60 million in Tier 1 capital and liquid assets covering 180 days of operating expenses in the first three years.
- The trust bank cannot take retail deposits, make traditional loans, or issue stablecoins, and it gets no automatic Federal Reserve payment-system access.
- Circle completed its charter in July 2026 and Ripple on October 26, 2026; the ICBA sued the OCC on October 2 to challenge the crypto charter program.
- Coinbase shares closed at $136.10 on November 9, up 0.99% on the day, about 58% below the 52-week high of $324.80.
MarketRadar take
For Coinbase's custody business, the approval is a real win, and the $60 million capital condition plus the 180-day liquidity rule show the OCC is charging a price for the federal badge. The three completed charters in four months, Circle in July, Ripple in October and Coinbase in November, mark a clear regulatory direction, and the pending Block and Kraken applications will test whether it keeps going. The court fight is the brake on the story: until the ICBA case is settled, the approval carries legal risk that no press release can remove. For now the trade is simple, the custody franchise gets stronger while the legal question stays open.
