On April 1, 2026, EDX Markets Holding Company, the operator of the institutional-only cryptocurrency exchange backed by Wall Street heavyweights including Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity Digital Assets, formally applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter. The proposed entity, EDX Trust, National Association, would offer fiduciary custody, asset management, and settlement services exclusively for institutional clients.
Application Details and Services
First reported by Bloomberg, the application seeks full fiduciary powers under 12 U.S.C. § 92a. The main office is proposed at 200 W. Madison, Suite 1450, Chicago, IL 60606. EDX Trust would provide fiduciary custody of digital assets, cash, and stablecoins, employing sub-custodian banks to manage private keys and reduce single points of failure. Custodied assets could be invested in highly liquid instruments targeting returns near the federal funds rate, alongside permissible staking and yield-generating activities.
Settlement services include riskless principal trading and end-of-day net settlement for clients on the EDX Markets platform or in over-the-counter (OTC) venues. The bank would not conduct proprietary trading. EDX Markets launched in June 2023 as a non-custodial institutional exchange, meaning it does not hold client assets during trading—a structure mirroring traditional finance's separation of custody from execution. Upon approval, EDX Trust would handle custody and settlement, while order matching and trading remain with its affiliate, EDX Markets LLC.
Leadership and Governance
CEO José Antonio Acuña-Rohter, who previously led ErisX and Cboe Digital, heads the initiative. The proposed board comprises five members, including independents with banking and risk backgrounds from First Business Financial, UBS, and Charles Schwab. Management draws from executives with experience at Cboe Digital, the Options Clearing Corporation, Coinbase, and Kraken. The bank would have no physical branches and no retail services; all operations run electronically via APIs and a graphical interface.
Regulatory Context and Industry Impact
The OCC added the application to its public list of pending digital asset licensing applications on March 26, 2026. No decision timeline has been announced. Since late 2025, the OCC has accelerated approvals for crypto-related trust bank charters: in December 2025, it conditionally approved five institutions including Ripple National Trust Bank and First National Digital Currency Bank, along with conversions for Bitgo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. Early 2026 saw approvals for Crypto.com and Stripe's Bridge unit. Pending applications as of April 1 include Revolut Bank US, Zerohash National Trust Bank, Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, Coinbase National Trust Company, and World Liberty Trust Company (linked to the Trump family).
A new OCC final rule effective April 1, 2026, clarifies that national trust banks may engage in operations of a trust company and activities related to non-fiduciary digital asset custody on a case-by-case basis. This removes legal ambiguity that had slowed institutional adoption. A federal charter allows a firm to operate nationwide under a single regulatory framework, bypassing most state-by-state licensing requirements—a critical distinction for institutions requiring regulated custody before allocating to digital assets.
Market Significance
The EDX Trust application signals a deepening commitment from traditional finance giants to the digital asset custody space. Its unique structure—a non-custodial exchange paired with a fiduciary trust bank—offers institutions a federally regulated, secure path to digital asset exposure while maintaining trading efficiency. If approved, it could further accelerate mainstream institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies.