Rain is seeking a national trust bank charter to bypass third-party banks - CoinDesk

Rain, a crypto payments platform, is reportedly pursuing a national trust bank charter, according to CoinDesk. Such a charter, granted at the federal level in the United States, would allow the company to conduct certain banking activities under a single national framework rather than navigating a patchwork of state-by-state licensing.

The stated aim is to reduce reliance on third-party banks. For crypto firms, those intermediary relationships have often been a friction point: partner banks provide custody, settlement, and fiat on-ramps, but they also add cost, delay, and counterparty risk. A trust charter would not make Rain a full-service commercial bank, but it could let the firm hold assets and move funds more directly within a regulated structure.

What to watch is whether the application advances and how regulators define the permitted scope of activities. Approval would signal continued willingness to bring crypto-adjacent businesses inside the federal banking perimeter; rejection or delay would reinforce that this path remains difficult. Either outcome matters for how crypto payment firms structure their operations.