- Coinbase said its national trust company received final approval to open on Nov. 9.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the OCC for records tied to at least nine charter approvals.
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal sought records from Binance Tether and two Trump-linked ventures.
US regulators are moving ahead with trust charters for crypto companies even as Senate scrutiny grows around how those decisions were made. Coinbase said its national trust company received final approval to open after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had granted preliminary conditional approval in April. The company said the charter gives its custody business a consistent federal framework. At the same time, lawmakers are seeking records on approvals, compliance handling and communications linked to those decisions. The parallel moves show trust charters becoming both a regulatory pathway and a target of congressional review.
Coinbase approval and trust charters
On Nov. 9, Coinbase announced that its national trust company had received final approval to open. That final step followed preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in April, marking a continuation of the federal process already underway.
Coinbase said the charter gives its custody business a consistent federal framework. In practical terms, the approval placed the company within a broader push by federal regulators to open more avenues for crypto companies to operate under existing US rules.
Senate scrutiny of trust charters
As regulators move forward, lawmakers are pressing for more detail on trust charters and the reasoning behind them. Congressional investigators want to review how regulators justified new approvals and how crypto companies handled compliance as they sought to expand under federal oversight.
The Senate review is also looking beyond the approvals themselves. Lawmakers are asking for records about possible communications and dealings involving people tied to President Donald Trump’s administration, adding a political and ethics dimension to the examination.
Warren presses the OCC for records
In a May 18 letter to the OCC, Sen. Elizabeth Warren challenged at least nine crypto trust-charter approvals. Her questions included Coinbase’s earlier conditional approval and focused on how the agency was using its existing authority to broaden crypto companies’ reach.
Warren asked for the applications behind the approvals, the legal analyses used to support them and any related communications between OCC officials and the White House or the Trump family. Her request aimed to uncover both the legal basis for the decisions and the context in which they were made.
Wider record demands add pressure
Four days before Coinbase announced final approval, Sen. Richard Blumenthal renewed demands for records from Binance, Tether and two Trump-linked ventures. That step widened the scope of the inquiry beyond the OCC and beyond the companies directly tied to trust charters.
Blumenthal gave those entities until Jan. 4, 2027, to provide the requested records voluntarily. He also warned that his subcommittee could take additional steps to obtain the material, signaling that congressional pressure may continue alongside the regulatory advance of trust charters.
Conclusion
The latest developments show US crypto policy moving in two directions at once. Regulators are continuing to approve trust charters that may give companies like Coinbase a clearer federal operating framework, while senators are demanding documents to examine how those approvals were reached. Requests from Elizabeth Warren focus on the OCC’s legal reasoning and communications, while Richard Blumenthal’s demands broaden the inquiry to major firms and Trump-linked ventures. Taken together, these actions suggest that trust charters are gaining traction as a regulatory tool, but they are also likely to remain under close congressional scrutiny in the months ahead.
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