Stablecoin Giant Paxos Applies for U.S. Bank Charter

Paxos previously sought an OCC national trust charter in 2020, receiving preliminary conditional approval in April 2021. However, the application ultimately lapsed in 2023 after failing to meet OCC requirements within the allotted timeframe. Now, in 2025, the company is making a second attempt, this time amid a more favorable regulatory environment, marked by recent stablecoin legislation and growing mainstream acceptance of crypto infrastructure players.

Securing an OCC-sanctioned national trust charter would place Paxos under direct federal regulation, significantly enhancing its institutional credibility. Such a charter represents the highest level of regulatory oversight available to trust banks in the United States and is recognized internationally as a mark of compliance and stability. Currently operating under a New York-only trust charter, Paxos faces both geographic and reputational limitations. A federal charter would remove these constraints and could enable the company to participate more seamlessly in federal payment systems.

This application comes on the heels of the GENIUS Act, passed in July 2025, a landmark legislation providing clear guidelines for stablecoins in the U.S. The law appears to offer the regulatory foundation Paxos needs to scale its services nationwide. Meanwhile, Paxos is not alone. Circle, issuer of USD Coin, and Ripple have also filed for OCC national trust charters within recent months.

The recent wave of applications signals a shift among major digital asset firms toward integrating more closely with the U.S. banking system. Industry analysts note that federal trust charters could help bridge the gap between blockchain-based financial products and traditional payment infrastructure, potentially expanding institutional adoption while ensuring higher regulatory compliance standards.

Paxos’ renewed application comes after a series of significant regulatory developments in recent years. In February 2023, the New York Department of Financial Services directed the company to discontinue minting Binance USD (BUSD), leading to the conclusion of its BUSD partnership with Binance. Following this, the company implemented measures to enhance compliance and operational oversight. With these updates in place, Paxos is moving forward under the evolving oversight of both state and federal regulators as it seeks an OCC national trust charter.

If approved, a national trust charter would bring Paxos under direct OCC supervision and subject it to bank-level risk, capital, and compliance standards. The charter would enable Paxos to provide enterprise custody and payment-settlement services at a national scale, and continue offering stablecoin-related infrastructure, consistent with federal oversight of payment activities.

Applications for OCC national trust charters place stablecoin firms under federal bank-level supervision, which can facilitate enterprise custody and settlement services if compliance standards are met. Recent enforcement actions show that deficiencies in controls can trigger significant penalties and remediation, underscoring the legal and reputational stakes for applicants.

Today’s resubmission of Paxos’ application for a U.S. national trust charter reflects both the company’s ambitions and the evolving posture of regulators toward crypto firms. With new legislation like the GENIUS Act, and peers such as Circle and Ripple following suit, the crypto ecosystem is making a definitive move into traditional financial territory. Whether Paxos can parlay its past experience and renewed strategy into a successfully approved charter remains to be seen, but the outcome will undoubtedly influence the trajectory of regulated stablecoin infrastructure nationwide.