Kraken Parent Payward Files For Occ National Trust Charter

@Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange @krakenfx, has filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust company charter, the firm announced on Friday, May 8.

A Federal Custody Vehicle for Institutional Clients

If approved, the application would establish Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), which would provide fiduciary custody and other services primarily for digital assets. PNTC expects to serve institutional clients and individual customers seeking regulated, bank-level custody and trust services for digital assets, leveraging Payward's existing infrastructure, risk management, and compliance programs to deliver services in a secure and compliant manner.

Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, framed the move in straightforward terms: "A national trust company provides the certainty institutions require and establishes the infrastructure to build the next generation of custody."

Payward framed the OCC application as part of a broader multi-charter strategy aimed at offering different types of regulated financial services under both state and federal oversight. The OCC application builds on the regulatory foundation Payward has already established through Kraken Financial, its Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI), with the two entities expected to serve different and complementary purposes.

Building on the Fed Master Account Milestone

Kraken Financial, Payward's Wyoming-chartered bank, was granted a Federal Reserve master account in March 2026, making it the first digital asset bank in U.S. history to gain direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment infrastructure. Through that master account, Kraken Financial can connect directly to core U.S. payment rails, including Fedwire, without relying on intermediary banks.

The move comes as crypto firms increasingly seek federal charters, licenses, and banking approvals under the Trump administration's more industry-friendly approach to digital asset regulation. Between December 2025 and March 2026, the OCC conditionally approved or advanced 11 crypto-related trust-charter applications, including firms such as Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, Bridge, Crypto.com, and Zerohash.

Kraken's broader expansion strategy has included a string of acquisitions aimed at building regulated trading and payments infrastructure, including a $1.5 billion acquisition of retail futures platform NinjaTrader in 2025 and an agreement to acquire crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million. Kraken this week also agreed to acquire stablecoin firm Reap Technologies in a $600 million deal.

Sources:
Payward files application for OCC National Trust Company (Kraken Blog)
Kraken parent goes for the OCC charter in bid to become a federal crypto bank (CoinDesk)
Kraken Becomes First Digital Asset Bank to Receive a Federal Reserve Master Account (Business Wire)