OCC Conditionally Approves Five Digital-Asset National Trust Banks
The OCC conditionally approved five national trust bank charter applications, including conversions for BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos and de novo applications for First National Digital Currency Bank and Ripple National Trust Bank. The action expanded federal charter pathways for institutions involved in digital-asset custody and infrastructure.
On December 12, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved five national trust bank charter applications tied to the digital-asset industry. BitGo Trust Company, Fidelity Digital Asset Services, and Paxos Trust Company received conditional approval to convert from state-chartered trust structures to national trust banks, while First National Digital Currency Bank and Ripple National Trust Bank received preliminary conditional approval for new national trust bank charters.
The approvals did not mean all five institutions instantly became fully operating national banks without further conditions. OCC conditional approvals require applicants to satisfy specified organizational, capital, governance, compliance, and operational requirements. That procedural distinction is central to the event: the historical milestone was federal authorization to proceed toward national trust-bank status, not the final completion of every conversion or charter.
Bitcoin's connection was strongest through BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets, both important institutional custody providers with substantial Bitcoin businesses. National trust-bank supervision offered a path toward operating under a single federal charter rather than relying entirely on state trust-company regimes. For institutional clients, custody regulation is a core part of Bitcoin market infrastructure because large asset managers, corporations, and fiduciaries often require regulated custodians rather than direct self-custody.
Taken together, the five decisions signaled that federal bank chartering was becoming an active route for digital-asset firms rather than an exceptional experiment. Bitcoin's institutional history in 2025 therefore included not only ETFs and trading access but the gradual incorporation of custody providers and crypto-native financial firms into the architecture of the national banking system.