Kraken Parent Payward Files for OCC National Trust Charter to Become a Federal Crypto Bank!

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has applied for a national trust company charter with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, aiming to establish Payward National Trust Company — a federally regulated entity focused on fiduciary custody and related services for digital assets. The proposed trust would primarily serve institutions requiring bank-level custody protections under OCC oversight.

The filing builds on Kraken Financial's existing Wyoming special purpose depository institution charter from 2020, which made it the first digital-asset bank to secure a Federal Reserve master account. Payward is framing the OCC application as part of a deliberate "multi-charter" strategy — pairing state and federal oversight to serve different institutional client needs under one group umbrella.

Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the national trust company "provides the certainty…