Kraken parent Payward seeks OCC charter to expand into federally regulated crypto banking alongside its existing Wyoming bank license

Payward, the parent company of U.S. crypto exchange Kraken, has filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter, aiming to launch a federally regulated digital-asset custody entity called Payward National Trust Company (PNTC). According to a blog post by co-CEO Arjun Sethi, the new trust bank would provide fiduciary custody and related trust services primarily for digital assets, targeting institutional and individual clients that require a regulated, bank-level qualified custodian under federal oversight. This move is positioned as a second pillar of Payward’s U.S. banking strategy alongside Kraken Financial, its Wyoming-chartered Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI), which recently became the first crypto firm to obtain a Federal Reserve master account, giving it direct access to the U.S. payments system. Payward presents the OCC charter as complementary to the Wyoming license, enabling it to serve a broader set of institutional clients that can only use federally regulated custodians and to build out “next-generation” crypto custody infrastructure under national bank supervision. The application follows similar OCC national trust approvals for other crypto firms such as Coinbase, Ripple, Paxos and Crypto.com, and comes amid Payward’s broader expansion efforts, including acquisitions, a paused IPO process, and ongoing capital-raising plans at a reported multibillion-dollar valuation. The proposal has also drawn regulatory and advocacy scrutiny. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) has publicly urged the OCC to deny Payward’s application, arguing that granting national trust bank charters to crypto firms encourages regulatory arbitrage, reduces community reinvestment obligations, and could pose consumer-protection and safety-and-soundness risks. NCRC cites prior federal enforcement actions against Kraken related to custody and asset-mixing issues as evidence that the company should not receive a national trust bank charter. The OCC’s decision will be an important signal for how U.S. bank regulators intend to handle large crypto-native firms seeking deeper integration into the federally regulated banking system. "entities":["Payward","Kraken","Kraken Financial","Payward National Trust Company (PNTC)","Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)","Arjun Sethi","Federal Reserve","Coinbase","Ripple","Paxos","Crypto.com","National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)"]}`

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

More coverage

• Kraken parent company applies for OCC charter in move ... - Binance (binance.com)
• Kraken parent seeks OCC charter - Banking Dive (bankingdive.com)
• Kraken parent applies for national trust bank charter - The Bank Slate (thebankslate.com)
• Kraken Parent Company Payward Seeks National Trust Charter (finovate.com)
• NCRC Opposes Kraken Application for a National Trust Bank Charter (ncrc.org)

Explore the topic

• Crypto
• Kraken
• Coinbase
• OCC