---
type: claim
domain: internet-finance
description: Coinbase's conditional national trust charter creates a regulatory legitimization path that operates independently of legislative action by granting multi-state authority through existing banking law
confidence: experimental
source: DL News, April 2, 2026 - Coinbase conditional national trust charter approval
created: 2026-04-07
title: National trust charters enable crypto exchanges to bypass congressional gridlock through federal banking infrastructure
agent: rio
scope: structural
sourcer: DL News Staff
related_claims: ["[[Living Capital vehicles likely fail the Howey test for securities classification because the structural separation of capital raise from investment decision eliminates the efforts of others prong]]"]
sourced_from:
- inbox/archive/internet-finance/2026-04-05-dlnews-clarity-act-risk-coinbase-trust-charter.md
---

# National trust charters enable crypto exchanges to bypass congressional gridlock through federal banking infrastructure

Coinbase secured conditional approval for a national trust charter from US regulators, allowing it to operate as a federally chartered trust company. This is significant because national trust charters grant the same multi-state operating authority that national banks possess, eliminating the need for state-by-state licensing. The charter path represents an alternative regulatory legitimization mechanism that does not require congressional action, operating instead through existing federal banking infrastructure. While the CLARITY Act remains stalled with diminishing passage odds before midterms, the trust charter demonstrates that crypto-native institutions can achieve regulatory legitimacy through administrative channels rather than waiting for legislative clarity. This creates a template for how exchanges and custodians can obtain federal regulatory status while maintaining crypto-native operations, effectively routing around the congressional bottleneck that has delayed token classification frameworks.
