Coinbase reports final OCC approval for its national custody trust

Coinbase says the OCC approved its National Trust Company charter on Friday, 6 November. The 9 November announcement advances federal oversight of its custody business; it does not turn the exchange into a full-service retail bank.

The company describes the approval as a federal framework for safeguarding customers' digital assets. It builds on its existing New York oversight, including the 2018 limited-purpose trust approval for Coinbase Custody Trust Company. The announcement does not give a timetable for moving customer accounts into the new entity.

The distinction between a trust charter and ordinary banking matters. The OCC's earlier conditional decision limited the proposed institution to trust-company operations and related activities. That April document explains the permitted fiduciary crypto custody role; it is evidence of the original scope, rather than a substitute for the final November approval letter.

CoinDesk independently reported the move from conditional to full charter status on 9 November, explaining that this is not a licence for deposit-taking and lending as a full-service bank. The concrete development is progress towards a nationally supervised custody business. Customers still need to know which legal entity holds their assets and what their account terms cover. A change in regulatory structure does not, by itself, establish a new retail deposit product or a government guarantee for a crypto balance.