Kraken's Parent Applies for OCC National Trust Charter to Scale Federally Regulated Digital Asset Custody

CoinDesk reports that Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has filed an application with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust charter. The proposed entity, Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), would operate as a federally regulated digital-asset custodian if approved. Kraken currently runs Kraken Financial under a Wyoming charter, a structure that can impose geographic and operating constraints. A national trust charter would broaden Payward's footprint inside the federal banking framework while complementing its existing Wyoming setup. For many institutional counterparties, regulators, and eventually public-market investors, a federally supervised trust company carries wider recognition. The move comes as major crypto firms increasingly seek to plug directly into the traditional banking system rather than operate alongside it. Earlier this year, Kraken Financial reportedly secured a primary account with the Federal Reserve, a first for the sector and a step that offers direct access to core U.S. payments rails. The U.S. policy backdrop has also shifted. Following the Trump administration's more favorable stance toward digital assets, the once-remote prospect of federal trust charters has become more attainable for large crypto companies. OCC data show that between late 2025 and early 2026, 11 crypto-related charter applications were advanced or conditionally approved, including filings tied to Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, Crypto.com, Bridge, and Zerohash. Industry players are moving quickly, wary that regulatory winds could change again. Payward is also pushing expansion through deals. This week, it announced plans to acquire Reap Technologies, described as a stablecoin company focused on the Asian market, for about $600 million. The transaction would lift Payward's acquisition outlay over the past year to roughly $2.7 billion, underscoring a strategy that extends beyond being a spot crypto exchange toward a broader ecosystem spanning custody, payments, and related infrastructure. Financially, Payward reported continued growth despite crypto-market volatility. Adjusted revenue for 2025 was about $2.2 billion, up roughly 33% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA rose to approximately $531 million. Kraken ended the year with around 5.7 million funded accounts and about $2 trillion in platform trading volume. Kraken remains closely watched ahead of any listing. Reports put its valuation at around $20 billion at the end of 2025, while secondary-market trading earlier this year suggested it had fallen to about $13 billion. Management has said the company is roughly 80% prepared for an initial public offering, though the IPO is currently paused rather than abandoned. Securing a federal trust charter could strengthen the case with public investors, who typically reward financial infrastructure firms that operate under tighter regulatory oversight in volatile sectors such as crypto.