Coinbase trust charter finalized as senators press regulators for records

What happened

Coinbase announced on Nov. 9 that its national trust company had received final approval to begin operating, clearing the last regulatory hurdle for a unit the exchange has said will give its custody business a consistent federal framework. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had issued preliminary conditional approval in April, according to the company's announcement.

The final clearance arrived alongside a parallel push from Capitol Hill. Lawmakers have been asking federal regulators to explain how they justified new trust charters for crypto companies, how those companies met compliance obligations, and what dealings they had with individuals connected to President Donald Trump's administration, Cointelegraph reported.

Senator Elizabeth Warren raised the issue in a May 18 letter to the OCC, challenging at least nine crypto trust-charter approvals, including Coinbase's earlier conditional authorization. She requested the underlying applications, the legal analyses supporting the decisions, and any communications between OCC officials and the White House or members of the Trump family.

Four days before Coinbase's announcement, Senator Richard Blumenthal renewed his demand for records from Binance, Tether and two ventures linked to Trump, according to both reports. He set a Jan. 4, 2027 deadline for the organizations to hand over the material voluntarily and warned that his subcommittee could take further steps to obtain it.

Why it matters

National trust charters give crypto firms a federally recognized structure for activities such as digital asset custody, and the Coinbase approval shows regulators are continuing to use existing authority to widen that path. For the companies involved, the appeal is a single set of federal requirements rather than a patchwork of state rules.

The congressional inquiries focus on whether that expansion is happening with adequate safeguards and proper legal grounding. Bitcoinist reported that critics question whether some crypto businesses are using trust-company structures to offer services that resemble traditional banking without matching regulatory obligations. The document requests also signal that scrutiny is not confined to regulators' decisions but extends to companies' compliance records and their political relationships.

What the data shows

The timeline in the reports runs from April, when the OCC granted Coinbase preliminary conditional approval, to Nov. 9, when the company said it had final clearance. Warren's May 18 letter challenged at least nine crypto trust-charter approvals. Blumenthal's renewed requests went out four days before Coinbase's announcement and gave recipients until Jan. 4, 2027 to comply voluntarily.

Background

Warren has been among the most vocal critics of the OCC's approach to chartering crypto companies. In an earlier letter cited by Bitcoinist, she warned that permitting such firms to carry out activities resembling those of full-service banks without equivalent safeguards could create risks for consumers and the broader financial system, and she raised concerns about the separation of banking and commerce. Her objections also include the possibility that companies could use regulatory structures to sidestep requirements applied to traditional financial institutions. Coinbase's approval is part of a wider trend of crypto companies pursuing national trust charters to expand within the US financial system.

What is still unclear

The reports do not say whether the OCC has answered Warren's May 18 letter or how it has characterized the legal reasoning behind the approvals she challenged. They also do not indicate whether Binance, Tether or the Trump-linked ventures intend to provide the records Blumenthal requested, or what additional steps his subcommittee might take if they decline. Coinbase's own account of the charter's benefits is not accompanied in the reports by detail on the conditions attached to the approval.

What to watch

The Jan. 4, 2027 deadline for Blumenthal's requests is the next fixed point, and his warning that the subcommittee could pursue other means of obtaining the material leaves open the possibility of further congressional action. How the OCC responds to questions about its chartering decisions, and whether additional crypto trust applications move toward final approval, will indicate whether the current approach continues unchanged.

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