Coinbase Granted Conditional Approval for US Trust Charter

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has conditionally approved Coinbase’s application for a national bank trust charter after six months of review. Chief legal officer Paul Grewal announced the decision on Thursday, crediting OCC head Jonathan Gould, who assumed leadership less than a year ago. This development follows December approvals for Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. While Coinbase stated in October it had 'no intention of becoming a bank' if approved, the move by US regulators represents a major step toward integrating crypto and traditional finance. 'Coinbase is not becoming a commercial bank,' said vice president of institutional product Greg Tusar in a Thursday blog post. 'We will not be taking retail deposits. We will not be engaging in fractional reserve banking. This charter is about bringing federal regulatory uniformity to the custody and market infrastructure business we have been building for years.' The company will continue operating under the New York Department of Financial Services, where it holds a BitLicense and a state charter as a limited-purpose trust company. The OCC approval comes amid ongoing discussions in Congress about a digital asset market structure bill, which has faced delays over issues such as stablecoin yield. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong expressed concerns in January about supporting the legislation as written, leading to a postponed markup by the Senate Banking Committee. Meanwhile, Coinbase recently expanded its services by introducing prediction market bets for US-based users through a partnership with Kalshi. The platform is also involved in ongoing legal battles with state gaming authorities in Connecticut, Illinois, and Michigan, arguing that federal oversight by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should apply to prediction markets.