Overview
- Coinbase announced on Nov. 9, 2026 that the OCC granted a full national trust charter for Coinbase National Trust Company to run fiduciary digital-asset custody for institutional clients.
- The charter is narrowly limited to custody functions and explicitly bars ordinary retail deposits, traditional lending, and direct stablecoin issuance by the trust bank.
- OCC conditions require the trust bank to hold at least $60 million in Tier 1 capital and liquid assets sufficient to cover 180 days of operating expenses during its first three years.
- Coinbase will move its New York‑regulated custody business into the federal trust over a planned three-year transition while keeping its existing New York trust charter and BitLicense in force.
- The approval follows the GENIUS Act and earlier OCC rulings that enabled similar charters for other firms like Ripple, and it arrives as the ICBA continues litigation challenging the OCC’s chartering approach, creating legal uncertainty for the sector.