Washington has started selecting which crypto firms control custody at a national level
The OCC is granting national trust charters to select crypto firms, effectively formalizing a federally supervised infrastructure for custody, settlement, and stablecoin management.Summary
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has begun issuing conditional national trust charters to major cryptocurrency firms, including Coinbase, Ripple, and Circle. This trend signifies a strategic federal effort to integrate specific crypto functions—namely asset custody, reserve management, and settlement—into the regulated banking perimeter. By providing a unified federal framework, these charters allow firms to operate nationally without navigating fragmented state-level regulations. This shift toward re-intermediation favors well-capitalized incumbents, positioning them as essential "picks-and-shovels" infrastructure for the future of tokenized finance while imposing rigorous federal supervisory and reporting requirements.
(Source：CryptoSlate)