Coinbase has officially secured a U.S. federal trust bank charter, and this is bigger than many people think. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has approved a national trust bank charter for Coinbase National Trust Company. It took effect on November 6 and was announced on November 9. From applying in October 2025, to receiving conditional approval this April, to now getting full approval, the process took more than a year. Coinbase’s institutional-grade digital asset custody business will now be directly regulated by federal banking authorities. Custody operations must be transferred from its New York State trust charter within three years, and the roughly $376 billion in assets held in custody on its platform now have the backing of a federal charter. But don’t get the wrong idea: this doesn’t mean Coinbase has become a bank—it can’t take deposits or make loans, doesn’t operate on a fractional-reserve basis, and customer assets are not FDIC-insured. PNC Bank is already piloting USDC payments for businesses. The crypto industry is being folded into the regulatory framework of traditional finance, compliance requirements are getting tougher, and the era of unrestrained growth is truly drawing to a close. #Coinbase #CryptocurrencyRegulation