EDX Markets, an institutional crypto exchange, has applied to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to charter a national trust bank, EDX Trust, to provide crypto custody, asset management and trade-settlement services. The proposed entity would operate as a non-depository national bank, separating custody and settlement from trading while continuing to route order matching through EDX’s existing platform.
In its application, EDX said the model aims to address structural risks in crypto markets where trading, custody and brokerage are often combined within a single platform, creating potential conflicts of interest and single points of failure. EDX Trust would provide fiduciary asset management services, invest client cash and stablecoin balances in highly liquid assets, and facilitate trading via a riskless principal model with end-of-day net settlement.
The bank would operate online from Chicago and target institutional clients such as broker‑dealers, futures commission merchants and registered investment advisers. EDX said an OCC charter would let it offer services nationwide under a single federal framework while meeting custody requirements for regulated institutions. Founded in 2022, EDX Markets is backed by Citadel Securities, Virtu Financial, Fidelity Digital Assets and Hudson River Trading.
The application comes amid a broader push by crypto and financial firms for national trust bank charters to expand institutional services under federal oversight. Zerohash recently applied for a US national trust bank charter to expand stablecoin and custody services. Coinbase applied in October and remains pending. Other filers this year include Laser Digital and Payoneer; Morgan Stanley also applied in February for a de novo trust bank to support digital asset services through a separate entity.
The OCC has continued issuing conditional approvals, granting licenses last month to Bridge, Stripe and Crypto.com, following earlier approvals in December for Ripple Labs, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos and BitGo. The pace of approvals has drawn scrutiny: the American Bankers Association urged the OCC in February to slow the process, citing unresolved oversight tied to pending US stablecoin legislation.
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