Crypto.com has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank charter in the United States.
The approval applies to Foris Dax National Trust Bank, which will operate under the name Crypto.com National Trust Bank (d.b.a.). It’s a limited-purpose national trust bank focused on digital assets, not a full-service commercial bank.
Services enabled once fully approved: Federally regulated custody for digital assets, staking across blockchains including Crypto.com’s Cronos network, trade settlement, and related qualified custodian functions. This positions Crypto.com to serve institutional clients with a “one-stop-shop” under federal oversight.
It does not allow accepting cash deposits or issuing loans, distinguishing it from traditional banks. The bank would fall under direct OCC supervision, providing a uniform federal framework instead of patchwork state-level regulations. This aligns with broader trends, as other firms have secured similar conditional approvals in late 2025 and early 2026.
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Crypto.com must meet additional OCC requirements, including capital adequacy, governance, risk management, anti-money laundering (AML) controls, and operational resilience, before final authorization.
Crypto.com’s CEO, Kris Marszalek, described it as a “major milestone” demonstrating their commitment to compliance and positioning the platform as a trusted qualified custodian for institutions. This development reflects increasing integration of crypto firms into the traditional financial system under federal regulation, potentially boosting institutional adoption while imposing stricter oversight.
Crypto.com’s official announcement and multiple reports explicitly highlight that the future federally regulated bank will support: Custody of digital assets.
Staking across various blockchains and protocols, including Cronos.
Trade settlement.
This means institutions using the bank as a qualified custodian could stake assets on Cronos; CRO or other tokens in the ecosystem under a federal oversight framework. This is a step up from Crypto.com’s current state-regulated custodian as federal regulation often appeals more to risk-averse institutional clients like asset managers, corporate treasuries, or ETF providers.
The approval does not immediately change anything—it’s conditional, requiring Crypto.com to meet further requirements like capital, governance, AML, risk management. Existing custody operations continue unchanged, and the bank won’t handle cash deposits or loans.
Federal regulation could attract more institutional capital to Cronos for staking and related activities. Institutions often prefer federally supervised custodians for compliance and security reasons, potentially boosting TVL (Total Value Locked) on Cronos through staked assets or DeFi protocols.
Cronos is positioned as a core part of Crypto.com’s “one-stop-shop” for institutions. Streamlined, compliant staking and settlement on Cronos could enhance its appeal for high-throughput use cases (Cronos supports up to tens of thousands of TPS).
Some analyses describe this as a potential driver for institutional liquidity flows into the broader Cronos ecosystem. While the bank charter is separate from CRO token operations, greater custody/staking volume on Cronos could indirectly support network activity, fees, and adoption.
The conditional nature means no operational changes yet. Cronos staking already exists via Crypto.com’s platforms and other providers. Any major uplift would come after final approval and institutional onboarding.
This fits a trend where crypto firms like Circle, Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, Stripe’s Bridge secure similar charters to bridge traditional finance and crypto under unified federal rules. For Cronos specifically, it strengthens Crypto.com’s narrative as a compliant, institution-friendly chain within its ecosystem.
It’s a bullish signal for Cronos’ long-term growth through better institutional access and staking utility, but expect impacts to materialize gradually as the charter finalizes and clients migrate.