Galaxy Digital has applied to the OCC to establish Galaxy National Bank, a proposed national trust bank based in the US.
If approved, Galaxy National Bank would operate as a federally regulated trust institution under OCC supervision, offering Galaxy’s digital asset custody, trading, and staking services together with fiduciary investment advisory services. The bank would serve clients nationwide through one federal framework.
Regulatory groundwork already in place
The application remains subject to OCC approval, and Galaxy has not disclosed an expected timeline for the review. The filing adds to a regulatory footprint of more than 50 licences across the US, Europe, and Asia. These include SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiaries that are FINRA members, a CFTC-registered swap dealer subsidiary, and a UK subsidiary authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. At the state level, the New York State Department of Financial Services recently granted a Galaxy subsidiary a BitLicense and a Money Transmission Licence, allowing it to offer digital asset trading and custody services to institutional clients in New York State.
Commenting on the application, Mike Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Galaxy, said digital assets are becoming a more significant component of the global financial system and that the company has spent years building the capabilities to support that shift. The CEO described a national trust charter as the next step, one that would bring more of Galaxy’s services under a single federal framework and broaden how the company serves clients as adoption grows.
Custody and staking within a federal perimeter
The scope of the proposed bank aligns with Galaxy’s recent work on institutional custody and staking. In August 2026, Galaxy entered a collaboration with BNY to support staking on BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform, with Galaxy also acting as a design partner for the bank’s wider digital asset infrastructure. BNY’s staking offering remains subject to regulatory review.
Should the OCC approve the application, Galaxy’s custody, trading, and staking services would sit within a federally supervised trust bank, complementing the state, federal, and international licences the company already holds. Alongside its digital asset activities, Galaxy develops and operates data centre infrastructure for AI and high-performance computing workloads, anchored by its Helios campus in the US.
Galaxy is not the only company operating in the digital asset ecosystem that sought to obtain the OCC approval. In 2026, Block and Rain both applied for a national trust bank charter, and recently, in October 2026, Ripple managed to secure the final OCC’s permission.
