Ripple Secures Final OCC Approval to Launch US National Trust Bank
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted final sign-off for Ripple National Trust Bank, which will oversee custody and reserves for its $2.5 billion RLUSD stablecoin.
At a glance Final
- What happened
- The OCC granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, enabling Ripple to run a federally regulated bank.
- Why it matters
- Ripple gains federal supervision to custody institutional digital assets and manage reserves for its $2.5 billion RLUSD stablecoin.
- Who is affected
- Ripple, institutional clients using Ripple Prime and payments, and reserve custodian BNY.
- What's next
- Ripple will begin operations under OCC and New York oversight alongside the rollout of the GENIUS Act.
- Primary source
- coindesk.com: Ripple gets a final go-ahead to launch its own U.S. national trust bank
Key points
- The OCC granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank to operate under direct federal oversight.
- The trust bank will manage reserves for Ripple's $2.5 billion RLUSD stablecoin and provide institutional custody.
- RLUSD will still be issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, creating dual federal and New York state oversight.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, allowing the crypto infrastructure firm to operate a specialized bank under federal supervision 1. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the regulatory milestone late Monday, concluding an application process that began in July 2025 and secured conditional approval in December 2025 1.
Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB) will manage the reserve assets backing the company's $RLUSD stablecoin and serve as a trustee for those holdings 1. In addition to reserve management, the entity will offer regulated custody services to institutional clients managing digital assets across treasury, trading, and cross-border payment operations 1. RLUSD itself will continue to be issued by Ripple’s New York-regulated entity, Standard Custody & Trust Company, creating a dual-layered regulatory structure that spans both state and federal oversight 1.
Institutional Custody and Reserve Operations
The approval comes as crypto firms increasingly seek federal charters to bridge digital assets and traditional financial markets, mirroring steps like those when Rain applied for a national trust bank charter. Ripple introduced RLUSD in December 2024, and the token has since expanded to a market capitalization of roughly $2.5 billion 1. The stablecoin is backed by U.S. government securities, cash-like instruments, and dollar deposits, with BNY holding the majority of those reserve assets 1.
Ripple noted that the charter strengthens infrastructure across its payments business and Ripple Prime institutional platform, where RLUSD acts as collateral 1. The firm, which also uses $XRP for cross-border transaction liquidity, confirmed it will coordinate with the OCC and New York authorities as operations commence under upcoming federal frameworks, including the GENIUS Act stablecoin guidelines 1. At the time of writing, broader digital asset markets remained steady, with total market capitalization at $2.63 trillion.
Questions this story raises
- What is the purpose of Ripple National Trust Bank?
- The entity will manage the reserves backing the RLUSD stablecoin, act as reserve trustee, and provide regulated digital asset custody services to institutional clients.
- Does Ripple National Trust Bank issue RLUSD?
- No, RLUSD will continue to be issued by Ripple's New York-regulated subsidiary, Standard Custody & Trust Company, while the trust bank manages the reserves.
Sources
- [1] Ripple gets a final go-ahead to launch its own U.S. national trust bank — coindesk.com, October 27, 2026
Written by Basis Desk's newsroom system from the primary sources above and machine-verified against them before publication. Market figures marked "at the time of writing" come from live exchange data. Report an error: corrections@basisdesk.news · corrections policy.
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