Coinbase has received full federal approval to operate a national trust bank in the United States. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the agency that oversees national banks, granted the crypto exchange final approval for the charter last week. The decision follows a conditional approval issued in April 2026 and comes with clear limits on what the company can do under the new license.

News of the final approval circulated on X shortly after the decision:

JUST IN: $COIN wins final OCC approval for a federal trust charter. Coinbase National Trust Company will hold digital assets for institutions under federal oversight.

— Bitcoin For Corporations (@BitcoinForCorps) November 9, 2026

From Conditional Approval to Final Charter

The conditional status indicated that Coinbase had met certain early requirements but still needed to address remaining regulatory conditions before receiving full authorization. Over the roughly seven months that followed, the company completed the steps the OCC required, clearing the way for the final decision.

What the Charter Allows — and What It Does Not

The charter enables Coinbase to offer crypto custody services under a federal regulatory framework. Custody involves holding and protecting digital assets on behalf of clients. Under the same federal rules, the company can also build payment-related operations, and the approval supports its stablecoin business, including issuing tokens and managing stablecoins for other companies. The federal framework allows the company to hold digital assets for institutional clients under OCC oversight, the same oversight the regulator applies to national banks.

The authorization does not make Coinbase a conventional commercial bank, however. A national trust charter authorizes fiduciary activities — safeguarding and administering assets for clients — rather than commercial banking. The new entity, Coinbase National Trust, cannot accept deposits from ordinary customers, nor can it provide traditional commercial loans.

Coinbase is not the only crypto firm to reach this stage. Ripple, Circle, Paxos and BitGo have each won OCC approval for national trust bank charters, while Revolut has received conditional approval. These approvals place the firms under the same federal agency that supervises national banks, with each operating as a trust bank rather than a full commercial bank — a pattern that shows crypto firms converging on trust charters as their route to federal oversight.

Pushback From Banks and New SEC Rule Proposals

The OCC's decision to grant charters to crypto companies has drawn opposition from traditional banking groups. The Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade association representing community banks, recently sued the regulator, with the lawsuit questioning whether the OCC has the legal authority to issue certain charters to digital asset firms. How that lawsuit and the SEC's separate rulemaking process are resolved could help define the federal framework Coinbase and its peers now operate under.

Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed changes to existing broker-dealer rules. The proposals cover capital requirements, customer asset protection and recordkeeping for firms that handle digital assets — though as proposals, they have not yet been finalized.

New Jersey Staking Case Resolved

The federal charter approval came after a legal win for Coinbase in New Jersey. State regulators dropped their lawsuit over the company's staking services and lifted a cease-and-desist order tied to the case. Staking allows users to lock up certain crypto tokens to help run a blockchain network in exchange for rewards, and the New Jersey case centered on this service.

Strong Quarter, Slipping Shares

Coinbase also reported higher profit in its most recent quarter. The company posted $719 million in net income for the third quarter of 2026, compared with $433 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA — a measure of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — reached $333 million, up 60% from the previous quarter. That marked the company's 15th straight profitable quarter on this measure.

Even so, Coinbase shares dropped about 10% after the earnings report came out. The decline came despite the jump in profit from a year earlier, and the stock has not gained on the charter news either. Shares traded at $134.76 after falling 1.51% over the past trading day.

Source: Blockonomi