Laser Digital wins conditional U.S. trust bank approval for digital asset expansion

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Laser Digital U.S. trust bank approval

Highlights

Laser Digital received conditional approval from the OCC for a U.S. trust bank charter, subject to minimum capital requirements and excluding deposits or lending.
Laser Digital manages over $250 million for institutional clients and plans for its U.S. unit to facilitate movement and management of crypto, stablecoins, and fiat assets.
At least 15 digital asset-related firms have submitted OCC-supervised bank charter applications since early 2025 amid strengthened institutional confidence and regulatory clarity in the U.S..

Charter approval and operating plan

As reported by Reuters, the conditional approval comes from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and still requires Laser Digital to meet several conditions before it receives a full sign-off. Those conditions include minimum capital requirements, while the company says it does not plan to take deposits or offer lending services.

The Zurich-headquartered firm, spun out of Nomura in 2022, mainly serves institutional clients through crypto trading and investment access, with more than $250 million under management. Its U.S. unit, Laser Digital National Trust Bank, aims to help clients move money across traditional currencies, stablecoins and other digital assets, support cross-border payments and manage collateral across both crypto and conventional markets.

Broader U.S. market momentum

Clearer direction on crypto legislation, including policies such as the GENIUS Act, is helping strengthen institutional confidence in stablecoins and tokenized assets by moving the U.S. closer to a formal regulatory framework. That shift is supporting broader investment in digital asset infrastructure across the financial sector.

Established financial firms are also expanding their activity in the space. BNY, the world's largest custodian bank, launched a tokenized deposit service earlier this year, attracting interest from Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, and trading firm Citadel Securities.

The expansion is also driving more applications for national trust bank charters. According to data compiled by S&P Global, at least 15 applications for OCC-supervised bank charters have been submitted by digital asset-related firms since the start of 2025.

SoFi’s launch of SoFiUSD, presented in our earlier coverage, highlighted the rollout of a stablecoin issued by a U.S. national bank and the company’s push to expand its digital-asset products. That article also noted SoFi’s strong quarterly results and discussed how market optimism was tempered by technical resistance and signs of short-term overbought conditions in the stock.

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