Fintechs Are Racing for Federal Trust Charters to Custody Stablecoins

Modern Treasury has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank that would offer digital-asset custody, the latest sign that fintech firms are racing to plant their flags in federally regulated stablecoin infrastructure.

The company submitted its application on October 5, 2026, proposing a limited-purpose national trust bank under federal supervision, according to reports. The proposed bank would let customers custody and move stablecoins and fiat within the same federally regulated relationship as Modern Treasury's payment and settlement services. The application is under OCC review, and the bank cannot begin operations without full approval.

Modern Treasury is not alone in the queue. Rain, a stablecoin payments company, is also seeking a trust charter, nominating former Square Financial Services CFO Brandon Soto as president and CEO pending OCC approval. The proposed Rain National Trust Bank would issue and redeem dollar-backed stablecoins but would not offer deposit products, would not be FDIC-insured, and would not lend out reserve funds, according to the company's disclosures.

Banks push back

The charter applications land in the middle of a legal fight. On October 2, the Independent Community Bankers of America filed a lawsuit in federal court against the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould, challenging the agency's power to permit national trust banks to engage in non-trust activities. The suit contests the OCC's March 2026 rule and its conditional charter approval for Protego Holdings.

The OCC says its rule simply clarifies authority that national trust banks have long held. But with the case unresolved, every new applicant is effectively betting that the charter path survives judicial review.

Regulators fill the vacuum

The charter rush is unfolding against a fast-moving regulatory backdrop. The SEC has proposed a tailored framework for the custody of crypto assets by registered investment advisers and regulated funds, even as Commissioner Hester Peirce departed the agency, leaving the Commission with two sitting members, according to Paul Hastings' crypto policy tracker.

The Treasury Department published an interim final rule establishing procedures for state regulators' stablecoin certifications under Section 4(c) of the GENIUS Act, which allows state-qualified issuers with $10 billion or less in outstanding stablecoins to opt for state regulation. The CFTC submitted two rules further defining "swap" to the White House for review, covering event contracts and casino-style gambling products.

All of this rulemaking is happening because Congress failed to act. The CLARITY Act died on September 15 when it failed a Senate cloture vote 49 to 50, leaving Treasury and the OCC as the only viable infrastructure builders for the stablecoin market. The Treasury's own notice of proposed rulemaking on stablecoin issuance has a comment period closing October 17.

The global race

The United States is not the only jurisdiction writing the rulebook. Hong Kong's government reaffirmed plans to submit an amendment bill before the end of 2026 establishing licensing regimes for digital asset trading, custody, advisory and management services. And in Europe, eToro joined ten crypto firms backing EURØP, a euro-pegged stablecoin, in a bid to loosen the dollar's near-total grip on the stablecoin market.

Modern Treasury is a known quantity in payments infrastructure, providing payment operations software to companies moving money at scale. A trust charter would extend that footprint into custody, letting clients hold and move stablecoins inside a federally supervised entity rather than splitting activity across state money-transmitter licenses and banking partners.

The OCC's de novo pipeline has been busy. Forty-four de novo applications have been filed since January 2025, and two have been denied, suggesting the agency is open to new charters but not rubber-stamping them. Each application faces public comment and capital assessment stages, which means even approved charters take many months to become operating banks. For the stablecoin firms in line, the charter is a long game, not a shortcut.

For the fintechs in the OCC queue, the prize is becoming the regulated plumbing between traditional banking and digital dollars. The risk is that they build on a charter foundation that the courts, or a future administration, could still pull away.