Key facts
- Coinbase said its national trust company received final OCC approval to open, after preliminary conditional approval in April.
- Coinbase said the charter gives its custody business a consistent federal framework.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren's May 18 letter challenged at least nine crypto trust-charter approvals, including Coinbase's conditional one.
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal sought records from Binance, Tether and two Trump-linked ventures, with a January 4, 2027 deadline.
Coinbase announced on November 9 that its national trust company had received final approval to open, after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval in April. The company said the charter gives its custody business a consistent federal framework.
The approval came as congressional investigators sought records on how federal regulators justified new trust charters and on crypto companies' compliance and dealings with people tied to President Donald Trump's administration. In a May 18 letter to the OCC, Sen. Elizabeth Warren challenged at least nine crypto trust-charter approvals, including Coinbase's earlier conditional approval, and asked for the applications, the legal analyses behind the approvals and any related communications between OCC officials and the White House or Trump family.
Four days before Coinbase's announcement, Sen. Richard Blumenthal renewed demands for records from Binance, Tether and two Trump-linked ventures. He gave them until January 4, 2027, to turn over the requested records voluntarily and warned that his subcommittee could take other steps to obtain them.