
By definition, the National Trust Charter is a federal grant that lets an institution operate as a national trust bank. Yet such banks, in truth, are often non-depository; their labor lies in fiduciary service, custody of assets, and the management of a weighty trust. A practical trench where many crypto firms crave a license to hold and shepherd digital assets at scale, across borders. Coinbase, though, keeps its gaze fixed on the fiduciary status the license promises. It vows to move beyond custody toward payments and other services, while denying any desire to become a bank – a theater of contradictions if you squint hard enough.