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{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"27220d55-6843-49b7-83ef-d7b4060c60cd","kind":"publish","page_slug":"zerohash","published_at":"2026-11-05T20:17:40.993Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Zerohash","sections":[{"content":"Zerohash is described in industry coverage as a B2B crypto infrastructure company that provides application programming interfaces (APIs) and back-end regulatory infrastructure allowing brokerages, fintechs, trading firms, and banks to embed crypto and stablecoin features, including trading, qualified custody, staking, and account-linking, into their own products. The company is commonly reported as Chicago-based, with sources disagreeing on the exact founding year (2015 or 2017); co-founder and CEO Edward Woodford previously co-founded Seed CX, an institutional crypto derivatives venue, before launching Zerohash.","heading":"Business overview","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"Zerohash company profile (Bitscale)","type":"other","url":"https://bitscale.ai/directory/zerohash"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Fortune: Zerohash, Edward Woodford fundraise","type":"news_article","url":"https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/09/23/zerohash-edward-woodford-fundraise-interactive-brokers-morgan-stanley/"}]},{"content":"In September 2025, Zerohash raised $104 million in a round led by Interactive Brokers, with participation from Morgan Stanley, Apollo-managed funds, SoFi, and Jump Crypto, valuing the company at approximately $1 billion. This followed an earlier 2022 Series D round of about $105 million (reported valuation around $340 million) from investors including Bain Capital, Nyca Partners, and Point72 Ventures. In 2026, reporting indicated Zerohash was seeking a further round at a valuation above $1.5 billion after Mastercard withdrew from a previously discussed investment.","heading":"Funding and valuation","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Blockworks: Zerohash hits $1B valuation with Interactive Brokers-led raise","type":"news_article","url":"https://blockworks-editorial-9odybgvzo-blockworks.vercel.app/news/zerohash-hits-1b-valuation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"AllSides: Interactive Brokers Leads $104M Zerohash Round","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.allsides.com/news/09252025-0639/interactive-brokers-ibkr-leads-104m-zerohash-round-pushing-crypto-firm-1b-valuation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"crypto.news: Zerohash seeks $1.5B valuation after Mastercard exit","type":"news_article","url":"https://crypto.news/zerohash-seeks-1-5b-valuation-after-mastercard-exit/"}]},{"content":"Mastercard was reported to have been in talks around a potential investment in, or acquisition of, Zerohash. Reporting from around May 2026 indicated Mastercard withdrew from the planned investment, reportedly after shifting its stablecoin-infrastructure focus toward its acquisition of BVNK, a UK-based stablecoin payments firm. Zerohash subsequently sought new funding independently at a higher valuation. Mastercard has not publicly detailed its reasons for withdrawing, and some commentary characterizing the decision as related to regulatory risk is described in sources as speculation rather than confirmed fact.","heading":"Mastercard investment/acquisition talks collapse","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"KuCoin News: Mastercard Withdraws from Zerohash Investment","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/mastercard-abandons-zerohash-investment-focuses-on-bnvk-for-stablecoin-payment-infrastructure"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Tangem: Zerohash seeks $1.5B+ funding after Mastercard exit","type":"news_article","url":"https://tangem.com/en/news/investments/25560-zerohash-seeks-1-5b-funding-after-mastercard-exit/"}]},{"content":"Zerohash applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter in March 2026, seeking to operate as 'Zerohash National Trust Bank' providing digital asset custody, staking, transfer agent, and stablecoin management services, without retail banking, lending, deposits, or FDIC insurance. The OCC subsequently returned the application, an action described by trade press as a first of its kind by the regulator for this category of applicant; Zerohash characterized the return as part of a routine administrative process and refiled a revised application with a narrower scope of proposed offerings and changes to its proposed leadership section. As of the most recent reporting found, no final OCC decision on the refiled application had been reported, and its status should be treated as pending.","heading":"OCC national trust bank charter application","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"The Block: Zerohash seeks national trust bank charter from OCC","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/392314/zerohash-seeks-national-trust-bank-charter-from-occ"},{"credibility":2,"name":"FinTech Futures: OCC returns Zerohash bank charter bid","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.fintechfutures.com/regulatory-actions/occ-returns-zerohash-bank-charter-bid"},{"credibility":1,"name":"American Banker: Zerohash refiles its trust bank charter application to OCC","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.americanbanker.com/news/zerohash-refiles-its-trust-bank-charter-application-to-occ"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Zerohash press release: Zerohash applies for a national trust bank charter","type":"official","url":"https://zerohash.com/press/zerohash-applies-for-a-national-trust-bank-charter"}]},{"content":"Zerohash's own status-page history, aggregated by third-party uptime trackers, lists numerous operational incidents since 2019, most described as minor and lasting under a few hours, including delayed withdrawals, settlement delays, and a January 2026 multi-service degradation attributed by the company to its internal messaging system. No source reviewed linked these outages to a security breach, hack, or loss of customer funds; one incident notice explicitly stated there was no risk of missed or lost deposits.","heading":"Service outages","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"IsDown: Zero Hash outage history","type":"other","url":"https://isdown.app/status/zero-hash/outage-history?page=2"}]},{"content":"Edward Woodford is widely reported as co-founder and CEO of Zerohash; prior to Zerohash he co-founded Seed CX, a CFTC-registered institutional crypto derivatives exchange, with Brian Liston. Stephen Gardner has been identified in a Zerohash press release as CEO of Zerohash Trust Company, a subsidiary entity, and separately as a conference agenda item describing him as 'Co-President' of Zerohash; sources reviewed did not independently confirm the co-president title or provide details that would support any allegation of wrongdoing by either individual. No adverse legal or regulatory findings against either individual were identified in available sources.","heading":"Leadership","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"World Economic Forum: Edward Woodford author page","type":"other","url":"https://www.weforum.org/stories/authors/edward-woodford"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Zerohash press release: Zerohash Trust Company is Approved to Launch","type":"official","url":"https://markets.financialcontent.com/ms.intelvalue/article/gnwcq-2025-9-2-zerohash-trust-company-is-approved-to-launch"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":3,"name":"Zerohash company profile (Bitscale)","type":"other","url":"https://bitscale.ai/directory/zerohash"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Fortune: Zerohash, Edward Woodford fundraise","type":"news_article","url":"https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/09/23/zerohash-edward-woodford-fundraise-interactive-brokers-morgan-stanley/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Blockworks: Zerohash hits $1B valuation with Interactive Brokers-led raise","type":"news_article","url":"https://blockworks-editorial-9odybgvzo-blockworks.vercel.app/news/zerohash-hits-1b-valuation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"AllSides: Interactive Brokers Leads $104M Zerohash Round","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.allsides.com/news/09252025-0639/interactive-brokers-ibkr-leads-104m-zerohash-round-pushing-crypto-firm-1b-valuation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"crypto.news: Zerohash seeks $1.5B valuation after Mastercard exit","type":"news_article","url":"https://crypto.news/zerohash-seeks-1-5b-valuation-after-mastercard-exit/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"KuCoin News: Mastercard Withdraws from Zerohash Investment","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/mastercard-abandons-zerohash-investment-focuses-on-bnvk-for-stablecoin-payment-infrastructure"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Tangem: Zerohash seeks $1.5B+ funding after Mastercard exit","type":"news_article","url":"https://tangem.com/en/news/investments/25560-zerohash-seeks-1-5b-funding-after-mastercard-exit/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"The Block: Zerohash seeks national trust bank charter from OCC","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/392314/zerohash-seeks-national-trust-bank-charter-from-occ"},{"credibility":2,"name":"FinTech Futures: OCC returns Zerohash bank charter bid","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.fintechfutures.com/regulatory-actions/occ-returns-zerohash-bank-charter-bid"},{"credibility":1,"name":"American Banker: Zerohash refiles its trust bank charter application to OCC","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.americanbanker.com/news/zerohash-refiles-its-trust-bank-charter-application-to-occ"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Zerohash press release: Zerohash applies for a national trust bank charter","type":"official","url":"https://zerohash.com/press/zerohash-applies-for-a-national-trust-bank-charter"},{"credibility":3,"name":"IsDown: Zero Hash outage history","type":"other","url":"https://isdown.app/status/zero-hash/outage-history?page=2"},{"credibility":2,"name":"World Economic Forum: Edward Woodford author page","type":"other","url":"https://www.weforum.org/stories/authors/edward-woodford"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Zerohash press release: Zerohash Trust Company is Approved to Launch","type":"official","url":"https://markets.financialcontent.com/ms.intelvalue/article/gnwcq-2025-9-2-zerohash-trust-company-is-approved-to-launch"}],"summary":"Zerohash (also styled Zero Hash) is a Chicago-based B2B crypto infrastructure provider offering embedded trading, custody, staking, and stablecoin APIs to brokerages, fintechs, and banks. The company has raised backing from major institutional investors including Interactive Brokers, Morgan Stanley, and Apollo-managed funds, reaching a reported $1 billion valuation in 2025. No regulatory enforcement actions, lawsuits, or fraud allegations against the company were found in available sources; its main points of public record concern a pending U.S. trust bank charter application, a collapsed acquisition/investment arrangement with Mastercard, and routine service outages reported on its own status page.","timeline":[{"date":"2022","event":"Zerohash raises approximately $105 million in a Series D round from investors including Bain Capital, Nyca Partners, and Point72 Ventures, reportedly valuing the company around $340 million.","source":"thepaypers.com","source_url":"https://thepaypers.com/crypto-web3-and-cbdc/news/zerohash-secures-usd-104-million-in-series-d-funding-for-blockchain-products"},{"date":"2025-09","event":"Zerohash raises $104 million led by Interactive Brokers, with Morgan Stanley, Apollo-managed funds, SoFi, and Jump Crypto participating, valuing the company at $1 billion.","source":"AllSides / Blockworks","source_url":"https://www.allsides.com/news/09252025-0639/interactive-brokers-ibkr-leads-104m-zerohash-round-pushing-crypto-firm-1b-valuation"},{"date":"2026-03-04","date_evidence":"Zerohash announced its application on March 4, 2026","event":"Zerohash applies to the OCC for a national trust bank charter.","source":"The Block","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/392314/zerohash-seeks-national-trust-bank-charter-from-occ"},{"date":"2026","event":"The OCC returns Zerohash's trust bank charter application; Zerohash refiles a revised version with a narrower scope.","source":"FinTech Futures / American Banker","source_url":"https://www.americanbanker.com/news/zerohash-refiles-its-trust-bank-charter-application-to-occ"},{"date":"2026-05","event":"Mastercard withdraws from a planned investment in Zerohash after acquiring stablecoin firm BVNK; Zerohash seeks new funding independently at a valuation above $1.5 billion.","source":"KuCoin News / crypto.news","source_url":"https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/mastercard-abandons-zerohash-investment-focuses-on-bnvk-for-stablecoin-payment-infrastructure"}]},"v":1}