Modern Treasury Files Application for National Trust Bank Charter to Custody Digital Assets

Modern Treasury Files Application for National Trust Bank Charter to Custody Digital Assets

Federal approval is being sought by the payments infrastructure firm to provide custody services for stablecoins and associated fiat currency operations via a specialized national trust banking institution.

Modern Treasury, a payments infrastructure firm, has filed documentation to create a US national trust banking institution designed to deliver digital asset custody capabilities along with associated fiat currency services.

Based on the announcement released on Monday, the organization filed its application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) seeking authorization to launch Modern Treasury National Trust Bank, which would function as a federally supervised, limited-purpose national trust banking entity.

Should the application receive approval, the banking institution would enable Modern Treasury's client base to hold in custody and transfer stablecoins alongside fiat currency via a unified service offering, though it would refrain from issuing stablecoins or extending loans.

We believe stablecoins are foundational economic infrastructure for the future,

Modern Treasury co-founder and CEO Matt Marcus

According to Modern Treasury, the proposed banking institution would maintain operational independence from its current payments operations, which has processed in excess of $600 billion in payment transactions spanning hundreds of organizations.

The filing arrives during a wider movement by cryptocurrency and payments firms pursuing national trust bank charter authorizations. Bastion and Ripple have secured conditional approvals, whereas Circle and BitGo have obtained final approvals. Kraken parent Payward, Zerohash and Block have similarly filed applications.