Kraken’s parent company Payward has submitted an application to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to launch Payward National Trust Company. This entity would focus on digital asset custody under federal oversight. The move, announced on May 8, aims to offer institutional clients a bank-grade qualified custodian for cryptocurrencies, without accepting deposits or issuing loans in the traditional sense.
Co-CEO Arjun Sethi emphasized that the national trust charter would provide the regulatory certainty that institutions need. He described the OCC filing alongside Kraken’s existing Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution as complementary elements of Payward’s broader banking strategy. Kraken Financial, the Wyoming-chartered arm, made history in March 2026 by becoming the first crypto-native firm to secure a Federal Reserve master account.
The OCC has already conditionally approved trust charters for several crypto companies in recent months, including Ripple, Circle, Paxos, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets. Crypto.com also received a conditional OCC approval in February 2026. These approvals signal a growing acceptance of digital asset firms within the federal banking system.
Payward has been aggressively expanding its regulated infrastructure. Its acquisition of Bitnomial for up to $550 million added a derivatives platform regulated by the CFTC, while the $1.5 billion purchase of NinjaTrader in 2025 provided retail futures access. The new charter would extend this federal footprint to custody, completing a vertically integrated platform for trading, clearing, and safekeeping.
The approval process for the OCC charter is expected to be rigorous and multi-staged. Currently, Anchorage Digital remains the only crypto-native firm with a full national charter, as all other approvals, including recent ones, are conditional. Payward’s application underscores the industry’s push toward federal regulation to attract institutional capital.