Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has filed a Payward charter application with the OCC to establish a federally regulated national trust company.
Summary
- Payward applied for a national trust charter from the OCC on May 8, proposing a new entity called Payward National Trust Company focused on custody of digital assets.
- The trust would offer federally regulated custody to institutional clients without accepting deposits or making loans.
- Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said Kraken’s OCC filing and existing Wyoming SPDI are complementary pillars of Payward’s regulated banking strategy.
Payward, Kraken’s parent company, has filed a Payward charter application with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, proposing a federally regulated entity called Payward National Trust Company. The presentation was announced on May 8 along with a statement from Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi.
If approved, Payward National Trust Company would provide bank-level digital asset custody to institutional clients requiring a qualified, federally regulated custodian. It would not accept deposits or make loans in the traditional sense.
What the OCC letter means for Kraken
“A national trust company provides the certainty that institutions require and establishes the infrastructure to build the next generation of custody,” Sethi saying. “It’s not about being first; it’s about getting the framework right.”
Sethi described the OCC application and Kraken’s existing Wyoming special purpose depository institution as “complementary pillars” of Payward’s regulated banking strategy. Kraken Financial, the branch incorporated in Wyoming, insured a Federal Reserve master account in March 2026, the first crypto-native company to gain direct access to the Federal Reserve’s payment lanes.
The OCC has already issued conditional approvals to several crypto companies this cycle. Ripple, Circle, Paxos, BitGo and Fidelity digital assets received conditional national trust banking charters in December 2025. Crypto.com received its own conditional approval from the OCC in February 2026.
Context and what comes next
Payment has been quickly building its regulated infrastructure in the United States. Its acquisition of Bitnomial for up to $550 million added a full stack of CFTC derivatives, while its $1.5 billion purchase of NinjaTrader in 2025 gave it access to retail futures.
Payward’s charter would expand that regulatory footprint to federal custody, completing a vertically integrated platform that encompasses digital asset trading, clearing and custody.
The OCC approval process is expected to be comprehensive and multi-stage. Anchorage Digital remains the only crypto-native company to have a full national charter to date, and all other recent approvals remain conditional.
