Dakota Files for OCC Trust Charter; Senate CLARITY Vote Next Week

Stablecoin infrastructure firm Dakota filed an application for a national trust bank charter with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, chief executive Ryan Bozarth said on LinkedIn.

The charter would let Dakota hold customer assets and offer custody services under a single federal regulator. A national trust bank cannot take retail deposits or make loans.

Bozarth said the company spent two years building financial infrastructure designed to cut out intermediaries. "The charter would enable Dakota to operate in the United States under a single, unified federal framework," he wrote. "One of the best ways to do that is to remove intermediaries between our customers and the services we provide. Fewer layers mean more control, more reliability, and a better experience."

The application puts Dakota in a field that already includes Circle, which received final OCC approval for its national trust bank. Circle's charter allows it to oversee the custody of reserve assets backing its USDC stablecoin and offer digital asset custody services.

Ripple, BitGo, Paxos, Crypto.com, Fidelity Digital Assets and Bridge, the stablecoin unit owned by Stripe, have all announced trust bank ambitions or applications.

Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, signaled its own ambitions in the space. ICE scored 58 on AlphaScala's proprietary measure, a Moderate reading, as it looks to enter the crypto ETF custody market.

Senator Cynthia Lummis confirmed the CLARITY Act is scheduled for a Senate floor vote next week. The bill would create a federal standard for stablecoin issuance, replacing the current state-level licensing system.

The global stablecoin market grew past $300 billion. Banks and asset managers are testing blockchain-based payments, tokenized deposits and real-world asset tokenization. A federal trust charter gives crypto firms the regulatory standing to serve those institutional clients directly, several industry executives have said.

Most of that supply is held at state-chartered trusts and traditional bank custodians. A shift to federally chartered trust banks consolidates custody among OCC-supervised firms, altering the risk profile of the stablecoin system, several market participants said.

The risk for firms applying for these charters is the timeline. The OCC review process takes a year or more, several firms that have gone through it said. During that period, companies must maintain state licenses and banking partnerships, the very structure a federal charter is meant to replace.

Bozarth called the application "a big step in that direction."

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the CLARITY Act next week.