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Brazil’s Nubank Wins OCC Conditional Approval for U.S. National Bank – Crypto Custody Soon?

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has conditionally approved Nubank to determine a nationwide financial institution, which probably preconditions the institution of regulated crypto custody companies within the nation.

The grant, which got here 121 days after the corporate filed its utility on Sept. 30, 2025, permits the corporate to enter the financial institution group section.

Nubank fulfilled the capitalization, governance, and supervisory situations supplied by the OCC on this interval and likewise obtained impartial authorizations as an impartial operational entity with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve.

Source: Nubank

The regulators have supplied the corporate with a time restrict of 12 months to fully capitalize the establishment and 18 months to launch the financial institution.

Nubank’s U.S. Expansion Targets Full Banking and Crypto Services

Upon full approval, the constitution would permit Nubank to be a federally regulated nationwide financial institution working underneath the title Nubank, N.A., offering deposit accounts, bank card merchandise, lending merchandise, and custody of digital belongings on to clients within the United States.

It can also be value noting that it’s doable to supply crypto custody on a federal banking platform, with most crypto choices within the U.S. persevering with to be primarily based on the prevailing hodgepodge of state licenses or collaborations with present banks.

In distinction to belief charters, which generally restrict corporations from accumulating deposits or making loans, the Nubank nationwide financial institution constitution would permit it to supply a whole vary of shopper banking merchandise on prime of digital asset custody.

That would make the fintech one of many first main, consumer-oriented digital banks to supply conventional banking and crypto companies on the identical federal license.

The approval was characterised as an extension of the general technique of the founder and CEO of Nubank, David Vélez, to indicate {that a} digital-first banking mannequin can develop globally even in a regulated setting.

The U.S. entity might be led by Nubank co-founder Cristina Junqueira, who has relocated to the United States, with former Central Bank of Brazil president Roberto Campos Neto serving as board chairman.

The firm was established in 2013 and is predicated in São Paulo. It has evolved to be one of the largest digital financial services providers on the planet, with a buyer base of over 127 million clients in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.

It is the largest privately held monetary group in Brazil when it comes to the variety of clients, because it has been listed publicly on the New York Stock Exchange since 2021 with the ticker NU.

The agency has reported record-holding-level income of $4.2 billion within the third quarter of 2025, up 39% yr over yr.

As Regulators Move In, Nubank Moves Deeper Into Crypto

Nubank has been steadily diversifying into digital properties in recent times.

As of 2022, it collaborated with Paxos to permit clients to buy, promote, and retailer cryptocurrencies inside its utility and announced plans to test dollar-pegged stablecoin payments linked to bank cards.

Since that point, its crypto product has expanded into dozens of tokens, on-chain transfers to exterior wallets, on-app swapping, and yield assist on stablecoins.

By August 2025, the corporate stated it had over 6.6 million crypto customers, nearly all of whom are millennials or Gen Z, and that crypto exercise was now a necessary a part of engagement in its ecosystem.

The OCC license comes as half of a bigger development in Washington to take rising quantities of digital asset exercise underneath the federal banking perimeter.

In December, the regulator granted conditional approval to several crypto-native firms, together with Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos, to function as nationwide belief banks centered on custody and fiduciary companies.

More purposes have adopted in early 2026, together with from Nomura-backed Laser Digital and Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. Revolut has also signaled plans to pursue a U.S. banking license after abandoning an acquisition technique.

The submit Brazil’s Nubank Wins OCC Conditional Approval for U.S. National Bank – Crypto Custody Soon? appeared first on Cryptonews.

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