On Tuesday, the Swiss subsidiary of Nomura, Laser Digital, filed for a U.S. OCC national trust bank charter, as stated. The proposed Laser Digital National Trust Bank would provide digital-asset custody and spot trading under full U.S. oversight.
“Institutional digital asset markets are entering a new phase defined by scale, regulation, and durability,” said Steve Ashley. He serves as Laser Digital’s chairman and is the proposed chairman of the new bank.
“The U.S. is the most important financial market globally, and we believe the next chapter of digital finance will be written by firms that are prepared to operate at that level of scrutiny and permanence,” he added. A recent wave of charter approvals and filings has made such applications more common, as noted.
Several stablecoin issuers, including Circle, Ripple, BitGo, and Paxos, have secured OCC national trust charters. Other large firms, such as Coinbase, Sony, and Stripe, have applied, and the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial filed for a charter earlier this month (Ed. note: the surge followed passage of the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act last summer).
