Key points

  • The OCC granted Bastion preliminary conditional approval to convert its New York trust company into a national trust bank.
  • Bastion says the federally supervised entity will provide stablecoin custody, wallets, payment infrastructure and white-label issuance services.
  • The approval remains subject to OCC conditions and does not turn Bastion into a conventional deposit-taking or lending bank.

Stablecoin infrastructure provider Bastion has received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank, giving its enterprise-focused digital-asset business a path into direct federal supervision. The company announced the decision on September 18 and said the proposed entity will operate as Bastion Platforms National Trust Company. Conditional approval is an intermediate regulatory step: Bastion must satisfy the OCC's pre-opening requirements before the charter becomes fully operational.

What the approval covers

Bastion said the national trust bank would bring stablecoin custody, wallets, payment infrastructure and white-label issuance into one federally regulated entity. Its planned services include fiduciary custody of USDC and other digital assets that comply with the GENIUS Act, along with minting, redemption and conversions between stablecoins and fiat currency for enterprise clients. Bastion also provides technology to other regulated issuers, which remain the issuer of record for their own tokens.

Related reporting: dtcpay closes $25M Series A with strategic backing from SBI Group

A conversion from state supervision

The OCC's public licensing table shows that Bastion Platforms National Trust Company filed its conversion application on March 30, 2026. Bastion has operated with a New York limited-purpose trust charter since February 2025. Moving to a national charter can place permitted trust activities under a single federal supervisor and may reduce conflicts with state-level requirements, although the scope depends on the final charter, applicable laws and any continuing state obligations.

Not a full-service commercial bank

A national trust-bank charter is narrower than a conventional bank charter. It does not, by itself, authorize Bastion to take insured consumer deposits or make general commercial loans. The approval instead centers on custody, fiduciary and related infrastructure activities. The Wall Street Journal independently confirmed the conditional approval and described Bastion as a stablecoin partner for large companies and financial institutions, including businesses seeking a federally supervised counterparty.

Why enterprises may care

Large institutions often require vendors to meet formal governance, audit and risk-management standards before connecting payment or custody systems. Bastion argues that OCC supervision will make it easier for banks and global enterprises to assess its controls through a familiar federal framework. The company says Sony Bank's global stablecoin initiative uses its infrastructure, while its investors include Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures. Those relationships do not change the conditional nature of the new charter.

What remains unresolved

The public announcement did not disclose the OCC's full list of conditions, required capital levels or a date when the national trust bank may begin operating. Conversion applications are not published for public comment on the OCC's digital-assets page, so the detailed approval letter was not available there. Bastion will still need to complete organization, compliance, governance and operational work to the regulator's satisfaction before receiving final authorization.

The next milestone

The key development to watch is final OCC approval and confirmation that Bastion Platforms National Trust Company has opened under the federal charter. Until then, the decision is best understood as regulatory clearance to continue building toward launch, not proof that every planned service is already active. The move nevertheless adds another U.S. stablecoin infrastructure company to the group seeking national trust-bank oversight as tokenized payments become more closely integrated with established financial institutions.

Sources

AI-generated editorial image; not a photograph of the reported event. Prepared with AI assistance and source verification.