Kraken Parent Payward Applies for National Trust Company Charter

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has applied for a national trust company charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk on Friday. If approved, the charter would establish Payward National Trust Company as a federally regulated entity focused on fiduciary custody and related services for digital assets.

The company said the trust would primarily serve institutions and customers seeking bank-level custody protections under OCC oversight. The filing adds to Payward's existing Wyoming special purpose depository institution charter, known as Kraken Financial, which was granted in 2020.

Kraken Financial became the first digital-asset bank to secure a Federal Reserve master account, providing direct access to the U.S. payments system.

The company described the OCC application as part of a broader multi-charter approach that combines state and federal oversight to offer different types of regulated financial services. Under the proposal, the new national trust company would rely on Payward's existing compliance, risk management and custody infrastructure.

It would expand access to clients that require a federally regulated qualified custodian. The company said a national trust company provides the certainty institutions require and establishes the infrastructure to build the next generation of custody.

Payward has pursued several acquisitions to build regulated trading and payments infrastructure. The company completed a $1.5 billion acquisition of retail futures platform NinjaTrader in 2025. It also agreed in April to acquire a crypto derivatives exchange for up to $550 million, adding licenses covering brokerage, clearing and exchange operations.

This week, the company struck a $600 million deal to buy a Hong Kong-based payments firm, expanding its push into stablecoin-powered cross-border payments and card infrastructure in Asia. The proposed trust company would complement these efforts by adding federal oversight to its custody offerings.

Crypto firms have increasingly explored bank and trust charters as regulators clarify rules around custody and institutional participation in digital assets. National trust charters overseen by the OCC allow firms to operate nationwide without relying solely on state-by-state licensing.