Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a federal trust charter. The application would complement Kraken Financial, its existing state-chartered banking operation, giving Payward a federally supervised trust entity capable of holding assets for institutional clients under OCC oversight. This follows a pattern of crypto-native firms seeking federal charters to compete with traditional custodians.
For Armada's crypto desk, a federally chartered Kraken trust entity represents a potential future alternative or competitor in the custody space currently anchored by Fireblocks. It also affects counterparty due diligence: hedge fund and family office clients may increasingly hold assets at OCC-chartered crypto custodians, changing the custody verification workflow. Confirm that Armada's Fireblocks MSA and custody policy account for multi-custodian counterparty scenarios.