US OCC grants conditional banking license approval to Bastion

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has granted Bastion Platforms Trust Company a conditional approval to convert its New York state trust charter into a national trust bank charter. The decision, issued on September 18, makes Bastion one of a small but growing cohort of digital asset firms operating under direct federal banking oversight. The new charter, designated OCC Charter #27198, will allow the company to operate as Bastion Platforms National Trust Company. It’s a meaningful upgrade from the state-level trust license the firm has been running on, essentially giving Bastion a single federal key instead of needing to collect different keys for every state it wants to operate in. What Bastion can (and can’t) do The OCC’s authorization covers a specific set of services tailored to stablecoin infrastructure. That includes fiduciary custody, white-label stablecoin issuance, wallet solutions, payments, minting, redemption, and fiat conversions involving compliant digital assets like USDC. What the charter does not include is equally important. Bastion won’t be taking deposits, and it won’t carry FDIC insurance. CEO Nassim Eddequiouaq has framed the federal charter as a to...