Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has applied for a National Trust Company charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. If approved, the charter would let Payward offer federally regulated custody services for digital assets under a new entity called Payward National Trust Company. The move positions Kraken to serve institutional and retail clients with a bank-level custody framework — a big step for an exchange that has operated mostly under state licenses.
What the charter would do
The proposed Payward National Trust Company, or PNTC, would hold and safeguard digital assets under a federal charter. That means custody services overseen by the OCC rather than a patchwork of state regulators. Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the charter represents "infrastructure for next-generation custody" and stressed the need for robust regulation in a statement tied to the application. PNTC's target customers include both institutional players and individual users looking for trust-based asset protection.
Who else has one
The OCC has conditionally approved national trust bank charters for six crypto firms already: Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, and Coinbase. Payward would be the seventh if the application clears. Each of those approvals came with conditions, and the process has been slow — some applications have taken years. It's not a rubber stamp.
The pushback from banking lobbyists
Not everyone is happy about the trend. The Independent Community Bankers of America and other banking groups have criticized the OCC's crypto charter approvals, arguing they stretch the definition of a trust charter and could put consumers at risk. They also claim the framework lets stablecoin operators tap into the federal banking system without meeting traditional capital and regulatory requirements. The criticism isn't new, but it's escalated as more crypto firms line up for charters.
What happens now
The OCC hasn't set a timeline for a decision on Payward's application. The agency's conditional approval process typically involves a review of the applicant's business plan, capital, and compliance controls. Given the political heat from community bankers — and the fact that the OCC has already approved six similar charters — the outcome is uncertain but not unprecedented. For now, Kraken waits.
