Crypto.com has secured conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to operate a national trust bank in the United States, a milestone that places the Singapore-headquartered exchange alongside a small but growing cohort of crypto firms winning federal banking charters. The entity, named Foris DAX National Trust Bank and headquartered in Chicago, filed its charter application in late October 2025 and received the green light in February 2026, according to multiple reports. The approval signals that federal regulators are willing to bring major crypto exchanges under the same supervisory framework that governs traditional banks, a shift with real consequences for how digital assets are custodied and traded in the U.S.
For Crypto.com, the move represents a strategic bet that tighter regulation and direct federal oversight will ultimately make its services more attractive to institutions and mainstream users. A national trust bank charter confers the ability to operate across state lines under a single federal regime, potentially simplifying compliance and enabling a broader suite of products. At the same time, it subjects the company to ongoing examinations, capital requirements, and risk-management expectations that go well beyond what most state-level money-transmitter licenses require. The conditional approval therefore marks both an opportunity and an obligation. Crypto.com gains a path into the U.S. banking system, but only if it can satisfy the OCC that it can manage the attendant risks.
What the OCC Filing Shows
The OCC’s Corporate Applications Search lists the Foris DAX charter application under control number 2025-Charter-343659, with a proposed charter number of 25394 and a receipt date of October 23, 2025. The filing identifies the proposed bank name as Foris DAX National Trust Bank and locates its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. Foris DAX is the corporate parent behind the Crypto.com brand, so the naming convention links the charter directly to the exchange’s established legal structure rather than a new, standalone entity. The application details confirm that the request is for a national trust bank rather than a full-service commercial bank, signaling a focus on custody and trust activities as the regulatory foundation.
The OCC also maintains a dedicated tracker for digital-asset licensing applications, which lists Foris DAX National Trust Bank alongside other crypto-focused applicants such as Coinbase. That tracker links into the broader Corporate Applications Search portal, where each filing’s status, action dates, and public comment periods are recorded. The presence of Foris DAX on the digital-asset applications page indicates that the OCC is treating the charter as part of its emerging framework for supervising crypto businesses rather than as a conventional trust bank conversion. While the public record confirms receipt and categorization of the application, it does not yet include a detailed order laying out the conditions attached to Crypto.com’s conditional approval.
How Crypto.com Announced the Approval
Crypto.com disclosed that it had received conditional approval for a U.S. national trust bank charter in comments reported by Bloomberg on February 23, 2026. The company characterized the approval as a significant step toward operating a federally supervised banking entity, while emphasizing that the charter remains subject to the OCC’s conditions. In the context of OCC practice, “conditional” typically means that the agency has approved the charter in principle but is requiring the applicant to meet specific milestones before the bank can commence business. These often include raising a minimum amount of capital, finalizing governance structures, and implementing risk and compliance programs that satisfy supervisory expectations.
On the same day, Reuters noted that the new bank would be subject to direct OCC oversight, underscoring that Crypto.com is opting into a higher standard of regulation than it faces through state money-transmitter licenses alone. For an exchange that serves millions of retail users and markets itself as a gateway to digital assets, OCC supervision may help reassure institutional investors and corporate partners that have been wary of crypto-native custodians. However, neither Bloomberg nor Reuters cited a standalone OCC press release announcing the approval, suggesting that, at least so far, public confirmation rests on the company’s statements paired with the underlying application record rather than a detailed agency order.
Five Prior Conditional Approvals Set the Pattern
Crypto.com’s conditional approval follows a series of earlier decisions that illuminate how the OCC is approaching crypto-related charters. In late 2025, the agency issued a news release announcing conditional approvals for five national trust bank applications tied to digital-asset firms. That group included de novo charters for Circle, operating under the proposed name First National Digital Currency Bank, and Ripple, as well as charter conversions for BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. Each entity focuses on some combination of stablecoin issuance, institutional custody, or blockchain-based payment services, and the OCC framed the decisions as part of a broader effort to bring such activities into the national banking system under a consistent supervisory umbrella.
Notably, the OCC’s release listing those five approvals does not mention Foris DAX or Crypto.com, even though the Foris DAX application had already been logged in the Corporate Applications Search by October 2025. This omission suggests that Crypto.com’s conditional approval may have been processed on a different timeline or through a separate internal track that did not result in a dedicated press statement. As of the latest available information, the primary public documentation remains the application entry and the company’s own disclosures as reported by Bloomberg and Reuters. That gap does not necessarily imply any irregularity, but it does mean that outside observers have limited visibility into the specific conditions attached to Foris DAX compared with the more fully described approvals granted to Circle, Ripple, and the other early entrants.
Expanding What National Trust Banks Can Do
In parallel with individual charter decisions, the OCC is moving to clarify and expand the permissible activities of national trust banks themselves. Through Bulletin 2026-1, the agency announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would amend 12 CFR 5.20, the regulation governing national bank charters. The proposal would confirm that national trust banks may engage in non-fiduciary activities in addition to their traditional fiduciary roles, provided those activities are consistent with safety and soundness and fall within the broader scope of national bank powers. In effect, the OCC is contemplating a more flexible model in which trust banks can serve as operational hubs for a wider range of financial services.
This prospective rule change is particularly relevant for digital-asset firms whose business models extend beyond pure custody. Under the traditional framework, a trust bank’s core mandate is to hold and manage assets in a fiduciary capacity, often for institutional clients or high-net-worth individuals. By clarifying that trust banks can also engage in non-fiduciary activities, the OCC could enable entities like Foris DAX National Trust Bank to support payment processing, settlement, or other operational functions that crypto exchanges already perform today through a patchwork of licenses and third-party relationships. If finalized, the rule could allow Crypto.com’s banking arm to evolve from a narrow custodial function into a more comprehensive financial platform, potentially competing more directly with traditional banks in areas such as treasury services and institutional onboarding.
Why the Charter Structure Favors Established Players
The emerging pattern of approvals suggests that the OCC’s digital-asset charter framework may advantage larger, better-capitalized firms over smaller competitors. The entities that have secured conditional approvals so far (Circle, Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and now Crypto.com) are among the most established names in the sector, each with substantial legal and compliance teams. The OCC’s enforcement and licensing database illustrates the breadth of regulatory expectations national banks must meet, from anti-money-laundering controls to cybersecurity and operational resilience. Building and maintaining the systems needed to satisfy those expectations is costly, and the expense can be prohibitive for startups or niche custodians that lack scale.
As a result, the national trust bank charter process may accelerate consolidation in the digital-asset custody and services market. Smaller firms that cannot justify the investment required for a federal charter will likely remain reliant on state-level money-transmitter or trust company licenses, which can limit their ability to serve customers nationwide and may be perceived as less robust by risk-averse institutions. Meanwhile, chartered entities such as Foris DAX National Trust Bank gain a powerful signaling advantage, an OCC-supervised status that can help attract institutional capital, corporate treasurers, and traditional financial partners. The OCC’s own licensing contacts page underscores that applicants are expected to engage extensively with the agency throughout the process, a level of interaction that tends to favor organizations with dedicated regulatory affairs teams.
What Conditional Approval Actually Means for Users
For Crypto.com’s existing customers, the conditional approval does not immediately change how accounts are held or how trades are executed. Until Foris DAX National Trust Bank satisfies all of the OCC’s conditions, it cannot begin offering trust services, accepting deposits, or otherwise operating as an active national bank. In practical terms, that means Crypto.com will continue to rely on its current network of banking partners and licenses while it works through the remaining regulatory milestones. Users should be cautious about assuming that new banking products—such as insured deposit accounts or integrated fiat payment rails—are available simply because the conditional approval has been announced.
Over the longer term, a fully operational national trust bank could reshape the user experience by giving Crypto.com a direct, federally supervised foothold in the U.S. financial system. With its own bank charter, the company may be able to streamline fiat on- and off-ramps, shorten settlement times, and offer institutional-grade custody under a regulatory regime familiar to traditional finance. However, the specifics will depend on the final conditions imposed by the OCC and on the outcome of the agency’s broader rulemaking on trust bank powers. Until a final approval order is public and the bank formally opens, customers and counterparties will need to rely on the limited information available through the OCC’s applications portal and on disclosures from Crypto.com itself to gauge how quickly the promised benefits of the charter will materialize.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
Grant Mercer covers market dynamics, business trends, and the economic forces driving growth across industries. His analysis connects macro movements with real-world implications for investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Through his work at The Daily Overview, Grant helps readers understand how markets function and where opportunities may emerge.
