Fintechs asking for, and receiving, bank charters in 2026

2026 is shaping up to be the year of fintechs becoming banks.

So far over 30 neobanks, digital asset companies, lenders, investment firms and payment providers have undergone the bank charter process through federal regulators this year.

Most have been approved so far or are still pending, but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has also started publishing charter denials (such as Bunq) and returning applications without a decision (such as Zerohash).

Comptroller Jonathan Gould has publicly expressed that his agency is aiming to turn around decisions on charter applications within 120 days of submission. So far, that has been true for a majority of the charters requested over the first half of this year. Notable exceptions include World Liberty Trust Company's conditional approval decision (221 days) and Bunq's denial decision (212 days).

A 2026 fintech report from Pitchbook notes that fintechs and crypto firms have been applying for charters within the last year due to a "now-or-never moment" of regulatory receptivity under the current administration. Trust charters, in particular, have received a boost from the stablecoin bill, known as the GENIUS Act, that was passed into law last summer.

American Banker is tracking these charters as they happen, and will update this list as more applications and decisions are announced.

Photographer: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

Revolut Bank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: September 2026

Details: The OCC conditionally approved a de novo bank charter for U.K.-based challenger bank Revolut on September 2, but it held back four of the products the British fintech wants to sell in the States.

The OCC said the company would need additional approval to offer four services: leveraged currency trading, foreign exchange forwards, merchant acquiring and correspondent banking for unaffiliated foreign banks. Each of those four will need its own supervisory sign-off before Revolut can include them in its U.S. banking subsidiary.

Revolut, which recently also received a full U.K. bank charter, offers digital and mobile banking services. The company's charter approval is the next step in its expansion into the U.S. and toward its goal of being a global banking platform.

Read more about Revolut's conditional approval here and its initial application here.

Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg

Zerohash National Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Reapplied
Agency: OCC
Date: August 2026

Details: Digital asset infrastructure provider Zerohash has refiled for a national trust bank charter after its initial application was quietly returned without a decision or public announcement by the OCC in July. According to a public bulletin published by the agency in June, the OCC "may return a filing without a decision if it finds the filing to be materially deficient."

Zerohash, whose clients include Morgan Stanley, OnePay and Stripe, initially filed for a national trust bank charter from the OCC in March of this year. A comparison of the two filings shows a narrower scope for proposed offerings and changes to the leadership section for the proposed Zerohash National Trust Bank in the refiled application.

Read more about Zerohash's second filing here, its returned application here and its initial filing here.

Bloomberg

World Liberty Trust Company

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: August 2026

Details: World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture co-founded by President Donald Trump, has been conditionally approved for a national trust bank charter by the OCC despite prior opposition from lawmakers and bank trade groups. The review process for World Liberty's trust charter application took a total of 221 days, nearly twice as long as the 120 days that Comptroller Gould had previously advertised his agency would spend reviewing charter applicants.

Pending final approvals, World Liberty Trust Company plans to take over issuance and custody of the USD1 stablecoin from BitGo Bank and Trust, its current custodian. The charter does not extend to depository services for the proposed trust bank. World Liberty Trust will also not issue, custody, or deal in World Liberty tokens, according to the OCC decision letter.

Read more about the charter approval here and the initial application here.

Bunq

Bunq US Bank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Denied
Agency: OCC
Date: August 2026

Details: The OCC has publicly denied Amsterdam-based neobank Bunq's de novo bank charter application. Its decision letter cited lack of experience in U.S. credit and banking regulation among the bank's proposed directors, lack of support for initial capitalization requirements and insufficient details in Bunq's business plan for achieving and maintaining profitability.

Bunq initially reapplied for a U.S. banking charter in January, two years after withdrawing its previous attempt. The application was the first de novo bank charter application to the OCC in 2026. The company, a subscription-based service that allows users to manage multiple international accounts and currencies in one application, is aiming to reach European "digital nomads" residing in the United States.

Read more about Bunq's charter denial here and its initial reapplication here.

Zaria

Zaria National Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: August 2026

Details: Zaria, a servicing company for asset-backed loans, has filed for a national trust bank charter with the OCC to establish Zaria National Trust Bank. The trust bank would operate solely as a trust company and is not looking to hold deposits, originate loans or issue digital currency — a break from the queue of fintechs applying for trust charters focused on digital asset custody and issuance.

Zaria is aiming to become a federally regulated corporate trustee for traditional and digital asset-backed loans and securities, as well as collateralized loan obligations. Upon approval of the charter application, Zaria National Trust Bank would "request OCC approval to merge its affiliate Zaria Servicing LLC with and into the Bank." Zaria Servicing currently offers primary servicing and collateral agency; backup servicing and collateral agency; and various agency services. Those would also be included into the trust bank's offerings should the merger be approved by regulators.

Read more about Zaria's trust bank charter application here.

Dakota

Dakota National Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: August 2026

Details: Dakota, a neobank that launched an enterprise stablecoin offering in January of this year, applied for a de novo national trust bank charter from the OCC in early August. Currently, the fintech offers stablecoin-related services to businesses through money transmission licenses. Upon opening, according to its application, Dakota National Trust Bank would offer fiduciary digital asset custody services, issue U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins and provide related services such as transaction settlement. 

The trust charter would not extend to depository services. Banking services for fiat currency are currently provided by Dakota through multiple global bank partners and FDIC insurance is provided through U.S. bank partners such as Lead Bank, according to a company representative. 

Read more about Dakota's initial filing here.

Upstart

Upstart Bank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: July 2026

Details: AI-powered digital lender Upstart Holdings announced that it has received conditional approval from the OCC to establish a de novo bank called Upstart Bank. The banking subsidiary will be based in Delaware and will not have any branches, but it will operate as a digital bank in all 50 states.

The charter would allow Upstart to reduce operational, regulatory and financial complexity for itself and third-party capital partners. Upstart develops and maintains AI models that it uses to analyze small-dollar relief loans, personal loans, auto loans and home equity lines of credit.

Upstart's applications to the FDIC for deposit insurance and to the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company remain pending. Annie Delgado, Upstart's current chief risk officer, is the proposed CEO of Upstart Bank.

Read more about Upstart's conditional approval here. 

Jason Alden/Bloomberg

First National Digital Currency Bank (d.b.a. Circle National Trust)

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Granted
Agency: OCC
Date: July 2026

Details: Stablecoin issuer Circle Group received final approval from the OCC to create the holding company First National Digital Currency Bank, which will operate under the name Circle National Trust. The charter places the New York City-based company's dollar-backed stablecoin, USDC, under federal oversight and permits the company to manage digital asset custody. Circle National Trust will offer fiduciary digital asset custody services for Circle and its affiliates and is planning for USDC reserve management in the future.

"We went live on July 24 and the trust is legally in operation," Circle Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen confirmed with American Banker. "The bank has just become legally operational, but we haven't changed the underlying operations of USDC as of yet."

Read more about Circle National Trust's official opening here, the final trust charter approval here and the preliminary conditional OCC approval from last December here.

Stark Bank, N.A.

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: July 2026

Details: Stark Bank, a Brazilian business banking fintech, applied for a de novo U.S. bank charter from the OCC on July 15. According to OCC filings, the proposed de novo national bank would provide traditional banking products focused on improving cash and treasury management for small to large businesses, particularly U.S.-based companies that are affiliated with Brazilian or other Latin American partners.

For products, Stark Bank intends to offer payment processing, deposit products, treasury management services, corporate credit cards, acquiring merchant services, business loans and expense management services to business clients. The proposed bank will be fully digital in the U.S., according to filings, and not offer consumer products or services.

Founded in 2018, Stark Bank provides API-powered banking and corporate card services to both Latin American and international businesses. It has been licensed by the Central Bank of Brazil as a direct credit corporation since October 2020, according to Bloomberg. The fintech has also received investment funding from Bezos Expeditions, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's venture fund, and reportedly includes digital asset companies among its customers.

Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Sony Bank (d.b.a. Connectia Trust)

Charter type: National trust bank charter
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: July 2026

Details: Sony Bank received conditional approval from the OCC to set up a trust bank subsidiary in the United States for issuing dollar-backed stablecoins. The bank, which is the online banking division of Sony Financial Group in Japan, will be establishing Connectia Trust to issue dollar-backed stablecoins. Sony Bank submitted its de novo trust bank application to the OCC last October and is planning to open Connectia Trust in 2027.

Sony Bank intends to use Connectia Trust's stablecoins to expand payment options within the Sony Group ecosystem for both internal operations and customer use.  More than 30% of Sony's global revenue comes from the United States, according to the company, which makes the U.S. market central to early adoption once Connectia formally launches.

Read more about Connectia Trust's conditional approval here.

CBW Bank

Charter type: Bank conversion (state to national)
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: June 2026

Details: CBW Bank, a community bank in Kansas, applied to the OCC to convert its state bank charter to a national one. Since conversion applications are not made public and neither the bank or the agency responded to requests for comment, it is currently unclear whether the conversion request is for a trust bank charter or a de novo bank charter.

CBW Bank was one of the first banks to offer banking as a service to fintechs back in 2012 and is one of the founding partners of Mastercard's global Crypto Partner Program launched in March of this year. CBW was also one of the first U.S. banks to connect to cryptocurrency payments company Ripple Technologies for cross-border payments.

Read more about CBW Bank's charter conversion request here.

Morgan Stanley Digital Trust National Association

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: June 2026

Details: Morgan Stanley received conditional approval from the OCC to establish a trust bank dedicated to digital assets in late June. The Morgan Stanley Digital Trust National Association, or MSDTNA, will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley and be headquartered in Purchase, New York. The trust would be in support of an initiative announced last fall, where Morgan Stanley said it would partner with crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash to let its E-Trade brokerage clients trade popular cryptocurrencies.

Read more about Morgan Stanley's trust charter approval here.

Laser Digital National Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: May 2026

Details: Laser Digital, the digital asset subsidiary for Japan-based investment bank and brokerage firm Nomura Group, announced that it received conditional approval from the OCC for a national trust bank charter on Friday, May 29. Laser Digital's Middle East division previously received a full crypto license from Dubai in 2023. The charter, according to a company statement, ties together Laser Digital's operational infrastructure built across the UAE, Japan and the United States through a single federal regulatory framework.

Laser Digital National Trust Bank plans to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Laser Digital under the supervision of the OCC. The company hopes to offer FX and stablecoin intermediation, cross-currency settlement across fiat, stablecoin and digital asset options and multi-asset fiduciary custody.

Catena Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: May 2026

Details: Catena Labs, an AI startup founded by Circle co-founder Sean Neville that is building what it calls an "AI-native financial institution," applied for a national trust bank charter from the OCC on Monday, May 18. Catena Labs is seeking the charter, according to its filing, to "provide custody, investment management, trust, conversion and clearing and execution services for fiat currency, investment securities and digital assets, including payment stablecoins compliant with the GENIUS Act and other approved digital assets through the Trust Bank's digital asset approval process." The application was submitted as Catena announced a $30 million Series A funding round led by a16z and Acrew Capital.

Augustus

Augustus National Bank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: May 2026

Details: Augustus (formerly known as Ivy before a recent rebrand) announced on Monday, May 11 that it has received conditional approval from the OCC to establish Augustus Bank, N.A. as a full-service U.S.-based national bank after applying in December 2025. The company, founded in 2022, already holds payments licenses in Europe and processes transactions for enterprise customers such as the crypto exchange Kraken. Its newly established U.S. CEO, Ferdinand Dabitz, is 25 years old and a Thiel Fellowship recipient for co-founding the company in 2022. The bank also appointed former Green Dot Bank CEO and OCC veteran Greg Quarles as its U.S. president.

Read more about Augustus's charter approval here.

Suhaimi Abdullah/Bloomberg

Payward National Trust Company

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: May 2026

Details: Payward, the parent company of Kraken, filed a national trust bank charter application with the OCC on Friday, May 8. The proposed entity, Payward National Trust Company, would offer federally regulated custody and related services for digital assets to individuals and institutional clients. Bank trade groups, such as the Independent Community Bankers Association, have expressed opposition to the application.

Read more about Payward/Kraken's application and ICBA's response here.

Adobe Stock

Mercury Bank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: April 2026

Details: Business banking fintech Mercury Technologies announced that it received conditional approval from the OCC to establish Mercury Bank on Monday, April 27. The de novo charter will allow Mercury to incorporate Zelle into its user accounts, expand its lending products for both businesses and individuals and build its own payments infrastructure. The bank's main office will be in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mercury originally applied for a charter in December 2025.

Read more about Mercury's charter approval here.

Agora National Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: April 2026

Details: Stablecoin fintech Agora Finance announced that it applied for a national trust bank charter with the OCC on Friday, April 24. According to the filing, Agora Bank will primarily provide services relating to digital asset custody, investment advisory and stablecoin issuance. The main office of Agora Bank will be located in New York, New York.

Mission Lane Bank

Charter type: CEBA credit card bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: April 2026

Details: Credit card startup Mission Lane applied for a limited-purpose credit card bank charter from the OCC under the Competitive Equality in Banking Act, or CEBA. Credit card banks, under the CEBA, may engage only in credit card activities and very limited deposit activities. The charter would allow Mission Lane to originate and hold loans in-house rather than relying on its partner banks, Transportation Alliance Bank and WebBank. CEBA credit card banks also benefit from exemption from the Bank Holding Company Act and federal preemption of state licensing. Mission Lane's application is the first limited-purpose credit card bank application to the OCC in approximately two decades.

Read more about Mission Lane's charter application here.

OpenReserve Bank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: April 2026

Details: The group behind a new de novo national bank application wants to offer traditional banking with blockchain infrastructure. An OCC filing for the newly established OpenReserve references stablecoin risk management, tokenized deposits and on-chain settlement operations. OpenReserve Bank also seeks to form a wholly owned subsidiary called ReserveUSD for GENIUS Act-related stablecoin services. The bank, if approved, will be based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg

Coinbase

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: April 2026

Details: Coinbase, the largest digital currency exchange in the U.S., received conditional approval for its trust charter application from the OCC on Thursday, April 2. Coinbase is not actively seeking to become a traditional bank, but will be using the charter to expand institutional digital asset custody. The application was contested by bank trade groups when it was filed last fall.

Read more about Coinbase's charter approval here.

Lorum National Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: March 2026

Details: Lorum, a clearing and cash management fintech for financial institutions, submitted an application to the OCC to establish a U.S.-based trust bank under the name Lorum National Trust Bank, or LNTB. Lorum is the new name for the Dubai-based payments fintech Fuse, which rebranded in late 2025. According to the filing, LNTB would be headquartered in New York City and does not plan to use its charter to engage in lending services. Should the charter be approved, Lorum plans to launch fixed-income products and expand fiduciary custody services.

Bastion Platforms National Trust Company

Charter type: Trust bank conversion (state to national)
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: March 2026

Details: Stablecoin infrastructure technology provider Bastion Platforms is applying to convert its New York State trust bank charter to a national trust charter. The California-based fintech submitted its national trust bank application to the OCC, and the agency marked the application as a conversion. Bastion originally secured a limited purpose trust company charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services in February 2025 upon acquiring Dibbs Trust Company. The firm secured the state-level charter in order to launch a white-label stablecoin issuance platform.

Read more about Bastion Platforms' charter conversion application here.

EDX Trust

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: March 2026

Details: EDX Holding filed an application with the OCC to establish a trust bank subsidiary in late March. The holding company behind institutional crypto exchange EDX Markets is pursuing a trust charter to provide custody and asset management services for EDX Market users. EDX Trust would also provide asset management services to customers upon request, according to the filing. The charter would also allow EDX to expand nationally and to institutional investors.

VALT Bank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: March 2026

Details: The OCC conditionally approved VALT Investor Group's request for a de novo bank charter to be headquartered in Eagle, Idaho. The newly approved VALT Bank will be a digital business-oriented bank. Its backers say it will offer business lending and "a broad range of traditional business banking products and services, including credit and deposit products, as well as treasury and cash management services designed for digitally oriented" small and medium-size businesses. The VALT Bank application was originally filed in November and received its conditional approval exactly 120 days later.

Read more about VALT Bank's conditional approval here.

Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg

PAYO Digital Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Applied
Agency: OCC
Date: February 2026

Details: Global payments company Payoneer applied for a national trust bank charter from the OCC as it seeks to issue its own stablecoin. If approved, the new entity named in the filing as PAYO Digital Bank will allow the company to issue a U.S. dollar-pegged cryptocurrency called PAYO-USD, manage the reserves backing the token and provide digital asset custody services. Payoneer intends to integrate its proposed trust bank exclusively into its existing cross-border payments ecosystem, offering on-ramp and off-ramp settlement services directly to its nearly 2 million small- and medium-size business customers.

Read more about Payoneer's charter application here.

Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

Crypto.com National Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: February 2026

Details: Foris DAX, the parent company for cryptocurrency exchange platform Crypto.com, received conditional approval from the OCC to establish a trust subsidiary. According to the OCC approval filing, the newly chartered Foris DAX National Trust Bank plans to do business as Crypto.com National Trust Bank. The company originally filed its application with the OCC in October 2025.

Read more about Crypto.com's conditional approval here.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Bridge National Trust Bank

Charter type: National trust bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: February 2026

Details: Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure provider owned by payments company Stripe, received conditional approval from the OCC for a national trust bank charter in mid-February. Once fully approved, according to the company, the charter will enable Bridge to directly operate stablecoin products and services under federal oversight. International business payments fintech Payoneer announced its plans on the same day to launch stablecoin offerings powered by Bridge. Bridge initially applied for its national trust charter in October of last year.

Read more about Bridge's conditional approval here.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Erebor Bank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Granted
Agency: OCC
Date: February 2026

Details: Erebor Bank, a digital bank founded by prominent tech figures such as Peter Thiel and Palmer Luckey, became the first new bank to be granted a de novo charter from the OCC in four years and the first charter granted under Comptroller Gould's tenure. The group behind Erebor Bank initially filed for a de novo charter to establish the bank in July 2025, and the OCC conditionally approved the application in October. The bank also received approval for FDIC insurance in December. Erebor Bank's founders are seeking to provide crypto-related products to tech, artificial intelligence, defense and manufacturing companies in a similar business model to Silicon Valley Bank.

Read more about Erebor Bank's conditional approval here and charter application here.

Nubank

Nubank

Charter type: De novo bank
Status: Conditionally approved
Agency: OCC
Date: January 2026

Details: The Brazilian neobank Nubank received conditional approval from the OCC to enter the U.S. digital banking market with a de novo charter in January of this year. The conditional approval is the latest step in the São Paulo-based fintech's international expansion, with the U.S. becoming the fourth country in which it will operate. The charter will, pending full approval, allow Nubank to launch deposit accounts, credit cards, lending and digital asset custody for U.S. consumers.

Read more about Nubank's conditional approval here.

2025 fintech charters

2026's influx of fintech charter applications and approvals is a continuation of the momentum built in the first year of the Trump administration, as newly appointed federal bank regulators such as Comptroller Gould expressed interest in encouraging innovation for the U.S. finance sector and approved early applicants. After the passing of the GENIUS Act for stablecoin regulation in July 2025, digital asset firms began filing en masse for trust charter applications to issue stablecoins and manage digital asset custody under the new regulatory guidelines.

Below is a list of fintechs and digital asset firms that received conditional approval for trust charters from the OCC in 2025. All decisions were issued on the same day in a lumped approval from Comptroller Gould on December 12.

1. Ripple National Trust Bank (Approved Dec. 2025)
2. BitGo Bank & Trust (Approved Dec. 2025)
3. Fidelity Digital Assets (Approved Dec. 2025)
4. Paxos Trust Company (Approved Dec. 2025)