Coinbase National Trust Company gets final OCC approval, moving Coinbase custody under a federal charter

What Coinbase announced

Coinbase now has a federally chartered trust company. In a post on its official X account at 11:22 UTC on Monday 9 November 2026 (12:22 in Amsterdam), the exchange introduced Coinbase National Trust Company and called it "OCC approved". A blog post published the same day says the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the US federal regulator that charters and supervises national banks and trust companies, gave final approval to the application last Friday, 6 November.

Coinbase says the charter, which it abbreviates as CNTC, allows it to expand its custody business under a federal regulatory framework. Custody here means holding and safeguarding digital assets on behalf of clients, and Coinbase calls it foundational to its business.

How it fits with the New York charter

This is not Coinbase's first trust licence. Its blog recalls that Coinbase Inc. received a New York BitLicense in 2017 and that Coinbase Custody Trust Company was approved for a New York limited purpose trust charter by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in 2018. Coinbase presents the OCC approval as the next step: bringing the trust activities of Coinbase National Trust Company into a consistent federal framework while building on the work done with the New York regulator.

The company says it has safeguarded digital assets for more than 14 years and describes itself as the leading crypto custodian globally, serving many of the world's largest financial services firms. It frames the charter as a way to align digital-asset custody with the traditional financial infrastructure that institutions already rely on.

What Coinbase did not say

The official post and blog do not give a date for moving existing custody clients to the new entity, and they do not mention any change to the Coinbase app, the Base app, fees or account terms. Coinbase also did not list new products for the trust company. Until it publishes those details, the announcement is about which regulator oversees Coinbase's custody business, not about a new service you can sign up for.

Our take

A federal trust charter mainly matters to institutions that hold crypto with Coinbase, because it puts their custodian under a single national supervisor. For everyday users the practical point is a reminder of the difference between custody and self-custody: assets held with a custodian depend on that firm and its regulator, while a self-custody wallet such as the Base app, linked on this page, keeps the keys with you.