OCC's digital-asset charter pipeline adds Dakota National Trust Bank
A July 28 entry brings the pending national-bank application list to 13, alongside names including Payward, EDX Trust, Revolut, Agora and World Liberty Trust.
By The Third AnglePublished 4 min read
The U.S. Treasury Building, used as an illustration because the OCC is an independent bureau of the Treasury Department; it does not show a charter applicant. Photo: Loren / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has added Dakota National Trust Bank to its public list of pending licensing applications from entities planning to offer digital-asset products or services. The OCC table records Dakota's application on July 28, 2026. It is the newest entry on a list that now contains 13 applicants.
It lists The First National Bank of Cooper, CBW Bank, Catena Trust Bank, Payward, Agora, OpenReserve, Lorum, Bastion Platforms, EDX Trust, Revolut Bank US, PAYO Digital Bank and World Liberty Trust. The page identifies applicants and dates, while records are linked through the OCC's Corporate Application Search.
An application is a pipeline signal
The list is evidence of regulatory demand, not a set of approvals. A pending row means the OCC has an application to process. It does not mean the applicant has a national-bank charter, permission to serve customers or approval for every digital-asset activity it may be considering. Dakota's entry gives the public its name and receipt date; the OCC points readers to the underlying filing for more detail.
That distinction matters because a national trust bank is a specific legal and supervisory route. The OCC says applicants must obtain approval before establishing a national bank, and its rules cover trust companies and related services. A charter can create a regulated platform, but permitted activities remain tied to the approved business plan and conditions.
Why the names matter to crypto infrastructure
The queue shows digital-asset companies and trust-bank proposals testing a federal path at the same time. The mix includes exchange-linked names, custody-focused trust companies and firms spanning payments or financial technology. The industry's question is shifting from whether a crypto business can find a banking partner to whether it can operate regulated infrastructure itself.
The next evidence will come from the OCC's decisions and the business plans attached to each filing. Those records can show the proposed custody, payments or fiduciary functions, capital conditions and operating limits. Until then, the Dakota addition is best read as a new marker in the licensing queue.
