TL;DR:
- ZeroHash applied for a National Trust Bank Charter with the OCC to offer its stablecoin and digital asset services under federal supervision.
- If approved, the company will be able to issue stablecoins, custody digital assets and manage reserves without needing state-by-state licenses.
- Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets made the same request and received conditional approvals last December.
ZeroHash, the Chicago-based crypto infrastructure firm, filed a National Trust Bank Charter application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), with the goal of offering its stablecoin and digital asset services under direct federal supervision.
If approved, ZeroHash would be authorized to issue stablecoins, custody digital assets and fiat currency, manage reserves and provide transfer agent services, all under a single federal regulatory framework. The resulting entity would not be permitted to take customer deposits or engage in commercial lending activities, in line with what national trust charters allow.
ZeroHash Bets on a Single Federal Framework
ZeroHash, founded in 2017, already holds licenses in 51 jurisdictions across the United States and operates internationally. Its platform enables companies to integrate stablecoin and digital asset functionalities into services such as payments, trading and payroll. Its clients include Morgan Stanley, Interactive Brokers, Stripe, Franklin Templeton, BlackRock and the prediction markets platform Kalshi.
Regulation as a Competitive Advantage
The application coincides with a period of regulatory reform across the industry. Over the past month, Bridge —Stripe’s stablecoin firm— and the exchange Crypto.com received the first approvals to operate as national trust charters. Last December, Circle Internet Group, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos obtained similar conditional approvals.
A federal charter would allow ZeroHash to align its operations with the most recent legislative developments, including the provisions of the GENIUS Act, which establishes the legal treatment of stablecoins in the country. Operating under a unified federal framework would also eliminate the need to manage a fragmented network of state regulations, representing a fundamental operational advantage over the current model. The OCC is reviewing the application. No timeline has been established for its resolution.
