Paxos, a blockchain infrastructure and tokenization platform, has applied for a national trust charter with the Comptroller of the Currency, the firm said Monday.
Paxos seeks to convert its New York Department of Financial Services trust charter, which it received in 2015, to a national trust charter under the OCC’s supervision. Paxos was the first blockchain and tokenization company to get a limited purpose charter and issued the first regulated stablecoin in 2018, according to the company.
It’s Paxos’ second attempt to secure a national trust charter. The firm first applied in December 2020 and received conditional approval from the OCC in April 2021. However, that approval expired in March 2023 because Paxos failed to meet the 18-month operational window required by OCC rules.
“By applying for a national trust bank charter, we are continuing to offer enterprise partners and consumers the safest, most trusted infrastructure available. This is rooted in our belief in the transformative power of blockchain as a force for financial freedom,” Charles Cascarilla, CEO and co-founder of Paxos, said in a statement. “OCC oversight will help build on our historic commitment to maintaining the highest standards of safety and transparency.”
If approved for the charter, Paxos would maintain a multi-jurisdictional regulatory framework including the OCC in the U.S., FIN-FSA in Europe, MAS in Singapore and FSRA in Abu Dhabi, the company noted. All Paxos-issued assets will remain fully backed by bankruptcy-remote reserves held in U.S. dollars, U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents with guaranteed 1:1 redemption.
The OCC stamp of approval would provide Paxos a number of business advantages, said Liat Shetret, vice president of global policy and regulation at Elliptic, a fintech specializing in blockchain analytics.
“You have one federal, very strong regulator, who oversees you, and you avoid this idea of needing to go state by state by state by state, which has significant cost and a lot of concern for businesses, because they're always trying to meet and exceed different obligations in different states, and the OCC gives them this one path,” she said.
A national trust bank charter differs from a traditional bank charter in that it has a more limited scope of authorization for financial activities. A trust company manages assets and administers trusts on behalf of individuals or organizations; it cannot lend or take insured deposits since it is not an insured depository institution.
Paxos’ renewed application comes shortly after being slammed with a $26.5 million fine by the NYDFS for due diligence failures related to its relationship with former partner Binance and systemic shortcomings in Paxos’ anti-money laundering program. The settlement resolves a 2023 case against Paxos brought by the NYDFS, when the regulator ordered the crypto firm to stop issuing new Binance USD stablecoins.
Paxos is also required to invest an additional $22 million in its compliance program, the NYDFS said Aug. 7.
In 2023, both the SEC and CFTC filed lawsuits against Binance and Binance.US. The SEC alleged commingling and diversion of customer funds, while the CFTC claimed compliance evasion. While the CFTC case was settled in 2023, the SEC's lawsuit was ultimately dropped in 2025.
Since the fine addressed historical issues rather than current operations, the OCC will conduct a thorough review and examine what the NYDFS has identified, Shetret pointed out.
“In a way, perhaps this fine has strengthened them because they had the opportunity to receive critical enforcement feedback from one of the best state regulators that exists,” Shetret said.
The NYDFS fine might help Paxos improve its programming, tech stack and compliance processes, “which is part of the growing process of becoming a mature institution,” she added.
Bryan Jacobsen, director of CRC-Oyster, a risk and compliance consulting firm serving financial institutions, notes that since Paxos has already agreed on a current path with the NYDFS, “the question for the OCC isn't necessarily going to be what happened in the past. It's whether or not the fixes are durable and embedded in the DNA of Paxos.”
It’s become an opportune time for cryptocurrency firms to apply for a national trust charter, given the evolving regulatory landscape under the present administration, which has a pro-crypto stance.
Anchorage was the first crypto firm to receive a charter for Anchorage Digital Bank by the OCC in 2021, allowing it to operate as a federally regulated bank.
Now, Paxos has joined a host of crypto firms like Circle, Ripple and Fidelity Digital Assets applying for a national trust charter, aiming to gain a stronger foothold in the integrated space of banking and digital assets.
While most companies applied before the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act became law on July 18, President Donald Trump had already established a pro-crypto direction in January by issuing an executive order to boost U.S. innovation in blockchain and digital assets.
The OCC, for its part, has issued several interpretive letters in 2025, including 1183 and 1184, that expanded national banks' ability to engage in crypto activities.
“GENIUS has been passed by the federal government. So all the signals are green, green, green on the federal side, and it's like a first mover advantage; if these companies don't move now, who knows when and if their timing will come again,” Shetret said.
