The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted Coinbase a full national trust charter on Monday, 9 November, the company said. CoinDesk reported that the agency lifted Coinbase National Trust from the conditional status it received in April. That provisional approval let the firm offer federally regulated custody and payments. It did not make Coinbase a bank that takes deposits or makes loans. The full charter keeps that limit. It is a trust bank, not a full-service lender.
What changed after the April approval
Coinbase told CoinDesk the months since April went to compliance systems, hiring, and regulatory review before the OCC signed off. Vice Chairman Ryan VanGrack said the firm had "spent years asking for clear rules and rigorous oversight," and that the approval "puts more of our business behind that commitment." He called it a step toward putting digital assets into the core of the US financial system. The charter does not, by itself, change the rules for the public exchange. It covers the trust bank the company has been building beside that exchange.
The GENIUS Act opened the path
Coinbase is not the first crypto firm through this door. CoinDesk said the OCC granted Ripple a full trust charter last month, and that many other firms still hold provisional charters. The queue grew after the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, the GENIUS Act, set out how federal trusts can take part in issuing compliant stablecoins. The OCC's October final rule on that statute is in the stablecoin rule note. CoinDesk also reported that the agency has given a conditional trust status to World Liberty Financial, a firm tied to President Donald Trump's family. That approval is separate from Coinbase's full charter.
Community banks are still in court
The legal fight around these charters is not over. The Independent Community Bankers of America has sued the OCC, arguing that granting trust charters to crypto firms goes beyond the agency's authority, CoinDesk reported. A court has not settled that claim. Until it does, a full charter is an agency decision, not a final word on whether national trust banks can sit at the centre of stablecoin issuance. A separate Treasury action on Monday withdrew a 2020 plan to pull crypto into a $250 cross-border transfer rule, covered in today's FinCEN note. Bitcoin's drop toward $74,000 is in the markets briefing. Follow the rulebook on the regulation desk.