Modern Treasury said it applied to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Modern Treasury National Trust Bank. The proposed entity would be a federally supervised, limited-purpose national trust bank. Its activities would focus on digital-asset custody and related fiat services. The application remains subject to OCC review and final authorisation.
The San Francisco-based payments infrastructure company announced the filing on 5 October. It said the proposed bank would operate separately from its existing software and payment service provider businesses. Modern Treasury also said current services and relationships with bank and stablecoin partners would continue unchanged during the review.
A NARROW CUSTODY MANDATE
If approved, the trust bank would hold stablecoins and fiat for customers under a single custody arrangement linked to Modern Treasury's payments and settlement tools. The company said the proposed bank would not make loans or issue stablecoins. It would provide only services authorised by the OCC.
Modern Treasury has expanded its platform to handle both conventional and stablecoin payments. The charter application would add a directly supervised custody component rather than convert the whole company into a bank. That distinction leaves its existing payment infrastructure outside the proposed bank.
REVIEW REMAINS OUTSTANDING
The filing does not amount to approval, and Modern Treasury has not provided a timetable for an OCC decision. The company said the proposed bank would not begin operating until it received the required approvals and final authorisation. Independent reports described the filing but did not identify a regulator decision.
The next milestone is the OCC's publication and review of the application, including any public comment and conditions attached to a decision. Until then, the proposed bank remains a planned vehicle rather than an operating institution. Customers and counterparties will need to watch whether the regulator accepts the proposed custody-focused scope.