Crypto.com announced on Monday that it has obtained conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter. The authorization clears an important regulatory milestone for the digital-assets company, enabling it to function as a federally regulated custodian under OCC oversight once full approval is achieved.
Under the terms described by the company, the charter would permit Crypto.com to hold and manage client assets and to carry out trade settlement within a federally regulated structure. The charter would not, however, authorize the institution to accept cash deposits or to engage in loan activity - limitations the company emphasized remain in place while the approval is conditional.
The conditional approval arrives amid an environment in which the U.S. has taken a noticeably more crypto-friendly posture under President Donald Trump, according to the company’s statement, with regulators pulling back some prior restrictions and enforcement actions. The announcement indicates that, at least for this firm, federal oversight via a national trust bank charter is being positioned as a bridge between crypto-native business models and traditional banking regulatory supervision.
Crypto.com said that once it completes the remaining steps toward final authorization, it would operate as a federally regulated national trust bank subject to ongoing OCC oversight. Industry analysts have emphasized that obtaining a national trust bank charter is a pivotal step for crypto-native firms seeking to attract institutional customers and to integrate more tightly with conventional financial systems.
Founded in 2016, Crypto.com is a digital-assets exchange that lists more than 400 tokens on its platform. The company framed the conditional OCC decision as an advance toward offering custody and settlement services under a federally regulated structure, while noting that the charter’s current scope does not extend to cash deposit-taking or loan-making powers.
At this stage the approval is conditional rather than final, and the company must complete further steps before it can operate fully as a national trust bank. Until those steps are complete, the charter’s limitations on deposits and lending remain in effect and the firm’s operation as a federally regulated custodian is contingent on full OCC authorization.