Nomura’s Laser Digital Seeks U.S. National Trust Charter as Crypto Firms Move Onshore

Nomura’s digital-assets arm, Laser Digital, has submitted an application to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, a strategic bid to place custody and trading services under federal supervision. The filing is the latest example of crypto-native and fintech firms pivoting toward onshore, federally regulated frameworks to avoid the patchwork of state licensing. A national trust charter, if ultimately granted, would let the bank operate across state lines with a trust-bank regulatory regime while not positioning it as a retail deposit-taking institution. Laser Digital’s ambitions reportedly include custody and spot trading capabilities, signaling an intent to deliver a broader institutional-grade service set from within the U.S. regulatory perimeter. The OCC’s current practice often issues conditional approvals; applicants must then satisfy capital, governance, anti-money-laundering, and compliance milestones before receiving a final charter and commencing full operations. That staged process has already benefited several crypto firms that have gained conditional clearances and are working to meet outstanding supervisory conditions. The trend is accelerating: firms pursuing national trust charters see them as a pathway to scale, lower regulatory friction between states, and stronger market credibility. For established financial incumbents, such moves heighten competition in custody, settlement, and potential stablecoin-related activities. From a systemic perspective, bringing custody and settlement closer to federally supervised entities reduces legal fragmentation but concentrates operational responsibility within institutions that must now meet bank-like prudential standards. Regulatory scrutiny from other agencies, notably securities and commodities regulators, will remain a parallel constraint; a bank charter does not immunize firms from cross-agency enforcement or rulemaking. Market participants should expect a drawn-out approval process followed by intensive supervisory engagement; conditional approval is a milestone, not an endpoint. If Laser Digital secures final approval and scales services in the U.S., it could accelerate onshore liquidity and institutional participation, while also raising the bar on compliance and operational resilience across the sector.