Coinbase Takes Major Step Towards Super App Ambition With Banking License Application

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Coinbase has joined cryptocurrency companies Circle (NYSE:CRCL), Paxos and Ripple in applying for a national trust charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

“If approved, the charter would continue to open up opportunities for Coinbase to launch new products beyond custody, including payments and related services, with the confidence of regulatory clarity, fostering broader institutional adoption,” Coinbase Institutional Product Vice President Greg Tusar wrote in a blog post last week.

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The move aligns with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s recent remarks that the company intends to become a super app, offering multiple financial services under a single umbrella.

The trust charter would permit the company to operate as a national trust company, meaning it would be able to offer custody, asset management and other related services nationwide with a single license. Unlike a traditional banking charter, however, it would not permit Coinbase to offer lending or take insured deposits. So far, Anchorage is the only cryptocurrency company to hold a trust charter, which it received in 2021.

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Tusar said that Coinbase did not have banking ambitions despite the application.

“Coinbase has no intention of becoming a bank,” he wrote. “It is our firm belief that clear rules and the trust of our regulators and customers enable Coinbase to confidently innovate while ensuring proper oversight and security.”

Armstrong has recently outlined a much bigger goal for Coinbase: replacing banks.

“Ultimately, we want to be a bank replacement for people,” he told Fox Business last month. “We want to be their primary financial account.”

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Armstrong said at the time that he believed the cryptocurrency industry could offer more efficient financial services than traditional banks.

“It kind of boggles my mind, like, why are we paying 2 to 3% every time we swipe our credit card?” he said. “It should not cost 2 to 3% every time you swipe your credit card. It’s just some bits of data flowing over the internet. It should be free or close to it. And so that’s just one example of many things that crypto can do to update the financial system.”