Modern Treasury applies for a national trust bank to add crypto custody

Modern Treasury said Monday that it has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank. The proposed institution would add federally supervised digital-asset custody and related fiat services to a platform that already handles payments and settlement.

The October 5 announcement is an application, with OCC approval and final authorization still required before the bank could open. Modern Treasury says the proposed bank would be a separate, limited-purpose entity and would operate only within the services the regulator authorizes.

The company’s plan is to let customers hold and move stablecoins and fiat through an integrated custody and payments offering. It says the bank would not make loans or issue stablecoins. Its existing software and payment-service-provider businesses would continue separately while the application is reviewed.

CEO Matt Marcus announced the filing on X Monday, explicitly making the proposed services conditional on approval and authorization to open. The company has not announced an approval date or a timetable for beginning bank operations.

Independent coverage from PYMNTS places the application within a disputed expansion of the national trust-bank route. The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC last week, challenging the regulator’s approach to crypto companies seeking banking charters. PYMNTS reported that the OCC declined to comment on the litigation.

That dispute concerns the approval framework for digital-asset applicants. It does not establish the outcome of Modern Treasury’s filing. The next material milestones for this proposed institution are the OCC’s decision and any conditions that accompany it.

Modern Treasury’s application also follows its acquisition of payments company Beam last year, which PYMNTS described as combining stablecoin and fiat payments with its money-movement infrastructure. A bank charter would add a supervised custody business to that existing platform if the regulator approves the proposal.

For businesses evaluating the announcement, the stated opportunity is an additional way to combine custody and settlement. The filing itself leaves the proposed bank in the regulatory-review stage, so customers cannot treat its contemplated services as an operating bank product.