Overview
- Payward filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Friday to form Payward National Trust Company for federally supervised crypto custody, with the application now under review and no decision timeline disclosed.
- The proposed trust would serve institutions that need a federally regulated qualified custodian for digital assets and would offer custody services, not consumer checking accounts or loans.
- The plan is meant to complement Kraken Financial, a Wyoming special purpose depository institution that gained a Federal Reserve master account in March, which gives direct access to U.S. payment rails.
- The filing follows a deal spree, including a $600 million purchase of Reap announced this week and earlier acquisitions of Bitnomial and NinjaTrader, as Payward builds out trading, payments, and custody ahead of potential public market plans.
- The application fits a broader shift toward federal charters, with the OCC advancing crypto trust bids and Coinbase receiving conditional approval on April 2, which could sharpen competition for institutional custody clients.