Kraken owner applies for OCC national trust charter after $600 deal
Tech Kraken owner applies for OCC national trust charter after $600 deal Krakens parent company Payward has applied for a national trust company charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a federally regulated entity focused on digital asset custody. The proposed entity is called Payward National Trust Company (PNTC). The move, first reported by CoinDesk, comes as the firm accelerates its acquisition push. Just yesterday, Payward announced it would acquire Asias stablecoin-focused firm Reap Technologies for $600 million. The company has spent $2.7 billion on acquisitions in roughly a year. Wyoming charter and its limits Kraken Financial received a Federal Reserve master account in March, marking a historic first for a digital asset bank and enabling direct access to the core US payment infrastructure. But state charters have geographic and operational limits. A national trust charter would work alongside Kraken Financial, expanding Paywards presence across both state and federal banking frameworks. The Trump administrations warm posture toward digital assets has helped transform federal crypto licensing from a dead end into a viable path. 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,