US Trust Charter Conditionally Granted to Coinbase by Federal Regulator
Paul Grewal, the company's chief legal officer, revealed the approval Thursday, expressing gratitude to Jonathan Gould, OCC head who assumed his position under a year ago.
Following a six-month review period, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the United States has granted conditional approval to Coinbase's petition for a national bank trust charter, marking a milestone for the cryptocurrency exchange.
Through a post on X published Thursday, Paul Grewal, serving as Coinbase's chief legal officer, disclosed that the organization obtained conditional approval for its OCC petition. This development comes after similar authorizations were granted in December to several industry players including Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos.
Despite the company clarifying that it maintains "no intention of becoming a bank" should the approval be finalized, this action by federal regulators in the United States represents a particularly notable step toward connecting the cryptocurrency sector with conventional financial systems.
As of the time this article was published, the official OCC website displayed no modification to Coinbase's application status, which continued to appear as received by the federal banking regulator. Cointelegraph contacted the cryptocurrency exchange seeking additional commentary but had not obtained an immediate reply.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.