Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust company charter aimed at expanding federally regulated custody services for digital assets.
Key Takeaways:
Payward, the parent company of Kraken, filed an OCC application to establish a national trust company for institutional digital asset custody.The proposed Payward National Trust Company would complement Kraken Financial, which holds a Federal Reserve master account as a Wyoming SPDI.Co-CEO Arjun Sethi says the multi-charter strategy positions Payward to serve a broader range of U.S. clients as federal digital asset rules continue to develop in 2025.Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the move reflects a long-standing position that regulated infrastructure is the correct path for digital assets to scale. “A national trust company provides the certainty institutions require and establishes the infrastructure to build the next generation of custody,” Sethi said.
A Wyoming SPDI and a federally chartered national trust company are designed to serve different client needs and regulatory contexts. Together, Payward positions them as complementary pieces of the same regulated banking strategy.
The national trust charter, if granted, would establish Payward as a federally regulated qualified custodian, a designation that many institutional investors require before allocating capital to digital assets through a third-party platform.
Institutional demand for qualified custody has grown as more asset managers, pension funds, and corporations seek regulated access to digital assets. A federal charter from the OCC would allow Payward to serve clients across all 50 states without navigating a patchwork of individual state licensing requirements.
The OCC application was filed from Cheyenne, Wyoming, where Kraken Financial is also based. No timeline for OCC review or approval has been disclosed.
Federal regulators have increased engagement with digital asset firms over the past two years. The OCC has previously granted conditional charters to crypto-focused companies, though national trust charters represent a distinct and more expansive category of federal authorization.
