The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved national trust bank applications from Bastion, Catena, and Agora on September 18, 2026, adding these institutions to a rapidly expanding field of federally regulated digital asset institutions. According to the OCC's decisions page, the regulator approved all three applications on the same day, marking a significant milestone for crypto-focused banking services. These limited-purpose banks represent a substantial expansion of federally regulated digital asset infrastructure, with their proposed activities revolving around institutional services rather than conventional retail banking operations. Each decision carries a distinct corporate decision number—#1391, #1392, and #1393—together telling more about where the OCC's head is than any one decision alone.
Bastion Platforms Trust Company received permission to convert its existing New York trust company into Bastion Platforms National Trust Company, representing a different business model from the other two approved institutions. The OCC's approval covers white-label stablecoin issuance, custodial wallets, conversion services, and support for other regulated issuers. However, Bastion operates as an infrastructure provider rather than a stablecoin issuer itself, building the technology, operations, and compliance stack that other regulated issuers use to run stablecoin programs. The company holds a New York state trust charter from February 2025, with the OCC conversion adding federal supervision on top. Bastion serves major clients including Sony Bank's global stablecoin initiative, with backing from Coinbase Ventures, Sony, Samsung, a16z crypto, and NTT DOCOMO Ventures in its $14.6 million funding round in September 2025. CEO Nassim Eddequiouaq framed the demand plainly: demand is growing faster than the number of providers that can meet enterprise-grade regulatory and operational standards.
Agora National Trust Bank received preliminary conditional approval to establish a New York based bank that would operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Agora Atlas Corp. The proposed bank would focus on issuing dollar-backed stablecoins and providing digital asset custody services for institutional customers, while also offering programmable payments and investment advisory services. Most significantly, Agora plans to transfer the issuance of AUSD from its Bermuda-based entity to the proposed US bank through a formal cutover process, which would move AUSD's reserve assets and associated liabilities into the proposed bank. This planned transition would make Agora's proposed bank more directly involved in stablecoin issuance than Ripple National Trust Bank, potentially weakening the scarcity value of Ripple's preliminary approval.
The September 18 approvals represent a dramatic acceleration in crypto banking regulation, with at least 12 conditional approvals landing in 2026 alone compared to roughly 3.4 applications per year between 2011-2024. Before December 2025, only Anchorage Digital and the now-lapsed Protego held notable crypto-focused national trust bank activity. The catalyst was the OCC's April 2026 amendment to 12 CFR 5.20, which replaced the narrow "fiduciary activities" language with "operations of a trust company and activities related thereto," clarifying what national trust banks can actually do in the digital-asset space. This rule change opened the door for infrastructure providers like Bastion that don't fit neatly into the old trust-company box, fundamentally changing the regulatory landscape for digital asset banking.
As reported by the OCC, the proposed banks must raise at least $10 million in Tier 1 capital within 12 months of preliminary approval and open within 18 months or the approval will expire. The regulator has not yet authorized the banks to begin operations, and final authorization remains subject to the companies meeting these conditions before opening. Agora must maintain at least $10 million in Tier 1 capital and meet requirements covering management, directors, auditing arrangements and operational readiness. The company submitted its national trust bank application on April 20, with the approval coming alongside approvals for Catena Trust Bank and Bastion Platforms Trust Company on the same date.
