Galaxy Digital announced Thursday that its subsidiary Galaxy Digital LP has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Galaxy National Bank, a proposed national trust bank headquartered in New York.
If approved, the charter would allow Galaxy to bring custody, trading, staking and fiduciary investment advisory services under a single federal supervisor. Founder and CEO Mike Novogratz described the move as “an important next step, allowing us to bring more of our services under a single federal framework and expand how we serve clients as adoption accelerates.”
The application arrives amid legal uncertainty. On 2 October, the Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the agency's authority to grant national trust charters to non-depository crypto firms. The ICBA argues the National Bank Act allows only three categories of national bank and asks the court to vacate the OCC’s March 2026 final rule and Interpretive Letter 1176, as well as bar further approvals.
Galaxy's filing comes 27 days after that lawsuit and follows a wave of crypto trust charter approvals. The OCC has approved or conditionally approved 21 national trust charters under the current administration, at least 13 for crypto companies. Conditional approvals from a December 2025 batch went to firms including BitGo, Circle, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets and Ripple. BitGo reached full approval in about seven weeks, Circle in roughly seven months, and Ripple received final authorization on 26 October 2026, three days before Galaxy filed.
Galaxy Digital holds more than 50 licenses across the U.S., Europe and Asia, including SEC-registered broker-dealers, a CFTC-registered swap dealer and a UK FCA-authorized subsidiary. The New York State Department of Financial Services recently granted a Galaxy subsidiary a BitLicense and a Money Transmission License covering institutional trading and custody. A national charter would sit above that existing patchwork rather than replace it.
The application follows strong third-quarter results. Galaxy reported net income of $323 million on Tuesday, reversing an $85 million loss in the second quarter, with adjusted EBITDA of $455 million and total assets up 51% to $16.4 billion. Assets under management and under stake rose 46% to $10.4 billion, and the company signed a multi-year agreement with BNY covering institutional digital asset infrastructure. GLXY shares closed Wednesday at $19.09, up 11.12%, extending a five-day gain of 25.26%, though the stock remains lower over one-month and twelve-month horizons.
Galaxy previously attempted to obtain regulated custody capability through its planned $1.2 billion acquisition of BitGo in May 2021. That deal collapsed in August 2022, with Galaxy exercising a contractual right to abandon the acquisition and later prevailing in Delaware Chancery Court. BitGo ultimately secured its own national trust bank charter in January 2026.
