Ramp Applies for OCC Trust Bank Charter to Expand Crypto Custody
Crypto infrastructure firm Ramp has filed for a national trust bank charter with the OCC to deliver institutional digital asset custody services.
Digital asset payment infrastructure provider Ramp has submitted a formal application to establish a Ramp OCC trust bank entity under federal supervision. The planned trust bank is specifically designed to handle institutional custody and digital asset settlement without functioning as a traditional full-service lending institution.
According to official filings, the proposed trust institution will neither accept conventional retail customer deposits nor originate commercial loans. Instead, Ramp aims to deploy compliant custody architecture in direct cooperation with existing commercial banking partners, bridging decentralized finance rails with standard national banking infrastructure under unified federal oversight.
Reporting from The Defiant indicates that secured federal trust status would empower Ramp to offer streamlined custodial capabilities to institutional clients seeking direct regulatory compliance. By operating under an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency charter, the fintech firm looks to eliminate operational fragmentation across state-by-state money transmitter licenses.
Securing OCC approval remains a rigorous multi-stage regulatory process that has historically presented high compliance thresholds for digital asset infrastructure providers. Market participants are watching the federal review closely to determine whether US regulators are ready to grant national trust charters to specialized crypto-native custody architectures.
Key takeaways
- Ramp applied for an OCC national trust bank charter to support institutional digital asset custody.
- The proposed charter excludes retail deposit taking and commercial lending operations.
- Federal approval would allow Ramp to streamline compliance beyond state-level licensing regimes.