Payward applies for OCC charter to become federally regulated crypto bank

Kraken’s parent company Payward filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on May 8, 2026, to establish a federally regulated national trust company. The entity, named Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), would provide bank-level custody services for digital assets.

What Payward is actually building

PNTC would focus on institutional clients and individuals who need compliant custody solutions for digital assets. The proposed entity is specifically designed around custody, not retail banking services like checking accounts.

Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi framed the move as foundational, noting that establishing a national trust company would provide the certainty institutional clients need and build the infrastructure required for advanced custody solutions.

The application builds on momentum Kraken has already been gathering. Kraken Financial secured a Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) charter previously, and then obtained a Federal Reserve master account in March 2026. That master account gives Kraken Financial direct access to the Fed’s payment systems, bypassing the need for intermediary banks.

The federal charter gold rush

Payward isn’t alone in this pursuit. Coinbase received conditional OCC approval for a national trust charter on April 2, 2026. Ripple has been making similar efforts.

An OCC charter for a national trust company doesn’t make PNTC a full-service bank. It wouldn’t take deposits or make loans in the traditional sense. What it does is place the entity under federal supervision, subject to the same capital requirements, anti-money laundering obligations, and consumer protection standards as nationally chartered trust banks.

A federally chartered trust company simplifies the compliance picture for institutions that operate across multiple states and jurisdictions, where custody arrangements currently vary between state-chartered trust companies, third-party custodians, and proprietary solutions.

What this means for investors

OCC evaluation timelines for charter applications can be lengthy and unpredictable. Conditional approvals, like the one Coinbase received, come with strings attached and ongoing compliance requirements. Building out the operational infrastructure for a national trust company is capital-intensive, and details on evaluation timelines for Payward’s OCC application remain scarce.

If Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple all end up with federal charters, they’ll be competing for the same pool of institutional clients. The differentiator at that point becomes technology, fee structures, and the breadth of supported assets, not regulatory status alone.

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