Coinbase has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust company charter. Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal announced the approval on Thursday via X. The decision marks a step toward Coinbase operating as a federally regulated crypto custodian.

The approval is not final. It is a conditional green light that sets out a list of requirements the company must meet before the OCC grants a full charter. Those requirements typically include building out compliance systems, hiring key personnel, and completing regulatory reviews. Coinbase must also demonstrate that it can manage risk, protect client assets, and meet Anti-Money Laundering standards.

Vice President of Institutional Product Greg Tusar was direct about what the charter does not mean: "We will not be taking retail deposits. We will not be engaging in fractional reserve banking," he said in a blog post. "This charter is about bringing federal regulatory uniformity to the custody and market infrastructure business we have been building for years."

If completed, the charter would allow Coinbase to operate a non-insured national trust company. That structure permits the firm to hold digital assets on behalf of clients. It does not allow the firm to accept deposits or issue loans. Institutional

Coinbase already serves as custodian for several U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, holding the underlying assets for fund managers. A federal trust charter would strengthen its ability to offer those services to a broader range of institutional clients, including pension funds and asset managers that require a federally regulated counterparty.

The OCC approved similar applications in December 2025 for Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. Coinbase first submitted its application in October 2025, alongside Ripple. More recently, EDX Markets, an exchange backed by Citadel, also filed for a comparable structure.