Coinbase (COIN.US) Granted U.S. Trust Bank Charter! Digital Asset Custody Business Enters a New Stage, Stablecoin Business Landscape Welcomes New Opportunities

Coinbase (COIN.US), the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has fully approved its application to become a nationally chartered trust bank. This is the latest case of a digital asset company entering the traditional financial sector, and it also means Coinbase's digital asset custody business will be further integrated into the U.S. federal regulatory system. According to the application documents submitted by Coinbase, the charter approved by the OCC will help Coinbase expand its asset custody business and further expand into areas such as payments. According to people familiar with the matter, the charter may also support Coinbase in further expanding its stablecoin business, enabling it to issue its own stablecoins and help other cryptocurrency companies issue and manage such tokens. It is worth noting that what Coinbase obtained this time is not a full commercial bank charter, but a national trust bank charter. This charter allows the company to provide digital asset custody, fiduciary management and other services within the scope of business approved by regulators, but does not mean it can directly conduct traditional commercial banking business. At the same time, stablecoin issuance also needs to meet additional conditions stipulated by relevant U.S. laws and regulatory frameworks. OCC public application records show that Coinbase submitted its trust bank charter application in October 2025, received conditional approval on April 2, 2026, and finally completed the effective procedures on November 6. Before this, Coinbase mainly conducted related businesses through charters and licenses issued by individual states. Obtaining a federal charter this time is expected to allow it to apply more unified regulatory standards when conducting digital asset custody business across the United States, reducing differences among state regulatory rules. During U.S. President Trump's second term, a number of digital asset companies have applied for national trust bank charters, and many of them have received preliminary approval from the OCC. However, only a few companies have ultimately completed the approval process, including Coinbase, Circle (CRCL.US) and Ripple. Among them, Circle obtained final OCC approval in July 2026 to establish Circle National Trust, mainly to provide fiduciary digital asset custody services to its affiliates; Ripple obtained final approval on October 26 to establish Ripple National Trust Bank, with approved businesses including managing segregated reserve assets supporting the U.S. dollar stablecoin RLUSD, serving as trustee for reserve asset collateral, and providing digital asset custody services. Previously, in December 2025, the OCC also conditionally approved national trust bank charter applications from companies such as BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos. Although the business authority of a trust bank charter is less than that of a full bank charter, it can bring institutions regulated by the OCC into the U.S. federal financial regulatory system. Trust banks cannot absorb general deposits or issue loans like ordinary commercial banks, but they can provide fiduciary management, client asset custody and other specific financial services. For cryptocurrency companies hoping to enter the traditional financial market, obtaining a federal charter helps enhance institutional investors' trust in their compliance and asset safety management capabilities, while also creating conditions for cooperation with traditional banks, asset management institutions and payment service providers. This trend is also closely related to the gradual improvement of the U.S. stablecoin regulatory framework. In July 2025, the U.S. GENIUS Act officially became law, establishing a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and setting requirements for issuers, reserve asset backing, redemption mechanisms and risk management. In October 2026, the OCC further published the final implementation rules of the act, and the relevant rules are scheduled to take effect on January 18, 2027. As the regulatory system gradually becomes clearer, stablecoin issuance and custody businesses are expected to be further integrated into the traditional financial system, but relevant companies still need to meet applicable regulatory approval and compliance requirements. Coinbase Vice Chairman Ryan VanGrack said in an interview: "The approval of our application shows that the cryptocurrency industry will exist for the long term, and we are building Financial Institutions, Inc. to match it. It also shows that we are more closely connected to the federal regulatory system, which has always been the direction we have long advocated. This is exactly how cryptocurrency integrates into our financial system." Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong previously said that the company is now the world's largest cryptocurrency custodian. In fact, even before obtaining the OCC charter, Coinbase had been expanding its presence in payments and stablecoins, trying to reduce its dependence on cryptocurrency trading business and build more diversified revenue sources. In terms of payments, Coinbase recently deepened cooperation with Citigroup (C.US) to further open up payment channels between traditional fiat currency and stablecoins. According to the cooperation arrangement announced by both parties on September 28, Coinbase will adopt Citi's virtual account wallet service to provide corporate clients with virtual accounts that have bank account functions, and fiat currency received by clients can be automatically converted into stablecoins. At the same time, Citi's Spring by Citi payment platform will also connect to Coinbase's payment infrastructure, enabling Citi's institutional clients to accept stablecoin payments at checkout without directly holding or managing stablecoins. Relevant transactions will be automatically converted from stablecoins to fiat currency by Coinbase's infrastructure, and then settled by Citi as the settlement bank. Both parties hope to use this to reduce the operational complexity and compliance costs for companies moving funds between the traditional banking system and blockchain networks. In terms of stablecoin business, Coinbase is also expanding the scope of cooperation. On October 28, the company reached a cooperation with Ripple to bring Ripple's U.S. dollar stablecoin RLUSD to Coinbase Prime, Coinbase Exchange and the retail app. Users can deposit, withdraw and manage RLUSD through the XRP Ledger, Base and Ethereum networks, and can exchange U.S. dollars or other eligible U.S. dollar stablecoins for RLUSD at a 1:1 ratio. Ripple said that as of the announcement of the cooperation, RLUSD's market capitalization had exceeded US$2.4 billion. This cooperation not only expands RLUSD's circulation channels, but also further enriches the stablecoin products Coinbase offers to retail and institutional clients. In addition, Coinbase's cooperative relationship with Circle around USDC remains an important part of its stablecoin business. As one of the largest regulated U.S. dollar stablecoins globally, USDC brings Coinbase business opportunities in multiple areas including trading, custody and sharing of reserve income. According to the cooperation agreement previously reached by both parties, Circle will share relevant reserve income with Coinbase based on the distribution of USDC on the Coinbase platform and in the broader ecosystem. This arrangement allows Coinbase not only to earn income from USDC held on its own platform, but also to benefit from USDC's circulation through other channels. The latest financial report also shows that the stablecoin business is becoming an important part of Coinbase's revenue structure. The company's third-quarter 2026 financial report shows that in the three months ended September 30, Coinbase's net revenue was approximately US$1.16 billion, of which subscription and services revenue reached US$570.2 million, accounting for 49% of net revenue. During the same period, the average scale of USDC held on the Coinbase platform reached US$22 billion, up 49% year over year and a record high, accounting for about 30% of the average total market capitalization of USDC during the same period. Coinbase said that over the past year, the company captured about 50% of the relevant economic benefits of the USDC ecosystem, and increased on-chain cooperation and product integration drove growth in USDC adoption. This means that the stablecoin business can not only bring relatively diversified revenue to Coinbase, but also help it extend its business reach from traditional cryptocurrency trading to areas such as payments, fund settlement and corporate financial services. Overall, Coinbase's final approval for a national trust bank charter is an important step in the further integration of digital asset companies with the traditional financial system. As the U.S. stablecoin regulatory framework gradually takes effect and cooperation among traditional banks, payment institutions and cryptocurrency companies continues to deepen, Coinbase is expected to further expand its institutional client and corporate payments markets by leveraging its trading platform, digital asset custody capabilities and stablecoin infrastructure. However, the charter itself cannot eliminate the regulatory requirements faced by stablecoin issuance, asset custody and cross-border payment businesses, and whether related businesses can continue to expand still depends on subsequent regulatory approvals, market demand, and the company's own compliance and risk management capabilities.