Kraken's operator, Payward, has applied for an OCC national trust charter to expand institutional cryptocurrency custody services across the United States.
This is part of a broader strategy. By 2026, the cryptocurrency industry will be more deeply integrated into the U.S. federal banking system under a significantly more favorable regulatory environment.
The new entity, Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), will not engage in deposit and lending activities like a traditional bank. Instead, the company will focus on institutional digital asset custody—a field that has become one of the most competitive battlegrounds among cryptocurrency companies.
Kraken built its own banking infrastructure.
According to the company, the new OCC license will operate alongside Kraken Financial Bank, which already holds an SPDI license in Wyoming.
The difference is that the federal trust charter will allow Kraken to serve institutional clients nationwide under a single regulatory framework, eliminating the need to navigate individual state regulations.
This is especially important for large funds, pension plans, and hedge funds, as regulations require them to hold assets with qualified custodians.
Kraken believes tremendous opportunities lie here. Institutional capital continues to flow into the cryptocurrency space through ETFs, tokenization, and digital payment systems, driving rapid growth in demand for regulated asset custody.
Payward co-CEO Arjun Seth described the new app as a "complementary pillar" of the company's banking infrastructure.
The Federal Reserve has opened its doors
Just two months ago, Kraken achieved another major milestone. In March of this year, Kraken Financial became the first crypto bank to obtain a "master account" from the Federal Reserve.
This enables the company to settle U.S. dollar payments directly through the Fedwire system without intermediaries—a benefit that until recently was almost exclusively reserved for traditional financial institutions.
The combination of Fed access, SPDI license, and potential OCC charter is gradually transforming Kraken into one of the most integrated cryptocurrency companies within U.S. financial infrastructure.
The cryptocurrency industry is experiencing a federal licensing gold rush.
Kraken is not the only company accelerating its regulatory expansion. Coinbase received conditional approval for a similar license in April, while companies such as Ripple, Circle, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets are also intensifying their efforts to expand their banking services.
The market attributes this trend to the U.S. government in Washington adopting a more proactive stance toward the cryptocurrency industry by 2026, as well as certain appointments at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) that have begun to view digital assets as part of future financial infrastructure, rather than merely speculative markets.
Kraken is expanding its business beyond exchange trading.
While expanding its banking services, Payward is also actively growing its presence in other financial services sectors.
The company recently completed its acquisition of Reap Technologies for approximately $600 million.—a transaction aimed at advancing stablecoin payments and international card infrastructure.
Prior to this, Kraken acquired Bitnomial for approximately $550 million to strengthen its position in the regulated derivatives and clearing services sector.
All these initiatives indicate that Kraken is gradually striving to build a model that increasingly resembles a full-fledged financial conglomerate, rather than just a cryptocurrency exchange.
For the market, the message is clear: after years of conflict with regulators, the largest cryptocurrency companies are no longer trying to stay outside the banking system—they want to be part of it.