Kraken Wants to Be Your Crypto Bank — Here’s the Federal Charter It Just Applied For

TLDR

• Payward, Kraken’s parent company, has filed for a national trust company charter with the OCC
• If approved, it would create Payward National Trust Company, offering federally regulated crypto custody
• The move builds on Kraken’s existing Wyoming SPDI bank charter and Federal Reserve master account
• Payward has spent over $2.6 billion on acquisitions recently, including NinjaTrader, Bitnomial, and Reap Technologies
• Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi says the company is about 80% ready for a potential IPO by 2027

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has applied for a national trust company charter with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The filing was announced on Friday, May 8, 2026.

If approved, the charter would create a new entity called Payward National Trust Company (PNTC). It would offer federally regulated custody and fiduciary services, mainly for digital assets.

The OCC has already approved similar applications from Coinbase, Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. Payward would join that group if its application moves forward.

Building on Existing Banking Infrastructure

Payward already has a Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) charter through Kraken Financial, which was established in 2020. Kraken Financial was the first digital asset bank to receive a Federal Reserve master account, giving it direct access to the U.S. payments system.

The OCC trust charter would work alongside the Wyoming charter. Payward describes this as a “multi-charter” strategy, covering both state and federal oversight.

Under the plan, PNTC would use Payward’s existing compliance and risk management systems. The goal is to serve institutional clients that need a federally regulated qualified custodian.

The OCC is led by Jonathan Gould, a Trump administration appointee. The agency approved a wave of similar crypto charter applications in December 2025.

Acquisition Spending and IPO Plans

Payward has been on a major spending run. In 2025, it acquired retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion.

In April 2026, Payward agreed to buy crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million. That deal added a full set of CFTC licenses covering brokerage, clearing, and exchange operations.

This week, the company announced a $600 million deal to acquire Hong Kong-based payments firm Reap Technologies. That move expands Kraken into stablecoin-powered cross-border payments and card infrastructure in Asia.

Combined, Payward has committed more than $2.6 billion across these three deals.

Despite the acquisitions, a Kraken IPO remains on the table. Sethi said in May that the company is “about 80% ready” to go public by 2027.

Kraken also recently announced a partnership with MoneyGram as part of its broader push into payments.

The OCC application is now pending review. No timeline for a decision has been announced by the regulator.

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