Ripple Wins Final OCC Approval for Federal Trust Bank

A Major Regulatory Milestone for RippleXRP+0.62%

Ripple has officially secured final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to launch Ripple National Trust Bank. This milestone gives the San Francisco-based enterprise blockchain company a federally supervised platform to handle asset custody and stablecoin reserve management.

The final sign-off completes a regulatory process that began 10 months ago, when the OCC conditionally approved Ripple's charter application in December 2025. During that same period, other prominent digital asset firms—including Circle, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets, and BitGo—also received conditional charter approvals.

What Will Ripple National Trust Bank Do?

Understanding what a national trust bank does can sound complicated, but its core duties center around high-level asset safety and administration. Once open, Ripple National Trust Bank will serve three main roles:

• Managing the segregated reserves that back the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin.
• Acting as a collateral trustee of those reserves for the direct benefit of RLUSD holders.
• Providing fiduciary digital asset custody services to institutional and enterprise clients.

It is important to note that RLUSD itself will continue to be issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company. This entity is Ripple's limited-purpose trust firm regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). As a result, the stablecoin will operate under a dual oversight framework, sitting beneath both state and federal regulatory supervision.

Leadership Vision: Integrating Crypto with Banking

Ripple executives have long argued that institutional adoption depends on building bridges with traditional financial regulators rather than operating outside them.

For years, we've said crypto and banks work better together. Final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank is what that looks like in practice.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse highlighted this perspective, emphasizing that integration with existing systems is key to long-term growth.

The revolution isn't happening outside the system. It's happening from within it. Big news heading into @Ripple Swell: the @USOCC has granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank. This gives Ripple a federally supervised platform to support $RLUSDRLUSD-1.60% and provide digital asset custody to enterprises.

RLUSD Scale and Market Context for XRP

First launched in December 2024, RLUSD has grown into a notable asset within the stablecoin market. According to tracking data from CoinGecko, RLUSD currently has a total market capitalization of approximately $2.6 billion.

Ripple utilizes RLUSD across its international payments infrastructure and as underlying collateral within its Ripple Prime brokerage service. Meanwhile, major financial institution BNY acts as the primary reserve custodian for the stablecoin.

Following the OCC announcement, XRP—the token closely associated with Ripple—saw a modest increase of 0.5% over a 24-hour period, trading at $1.29 according to CoinGecko. This placed XRP as one of only two cryptocurrencies inside the top 10 by market capitalization to gain value on that day, alongside Zcash.

Past performance of digital assets is not an indicator of future results. Cryptocurrency markets are subject to high volatility and sudden price changes.

The Pushback Against Crypto Banking Charters

While Ripple celebrates its final charter, the OCC's policy of granting national trust charters to crypto firms remains a point of debate among lawmakers and traditional lenders.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) expressed sharp criticism in a formal letter to Comptroller Jonathan Gould. She argued that granting federal bank status to companies like Coinbase and Ripple violates the National Bank Act.

These companies are effectively crypto banks that want to evade the fundamental safeguards and obligations that come with being a bank.

Traditional banking associations have also taken legal action. The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit against the OCC in federal court. The group contends that trust charters create a side door into the financial system for crypto firms, allowing them to operate without meeting standard capital requirements, consolidated supervision, or mandatory FDIC deposit insurance.

Conversely, trade organizations favor the OCC's direction. The Digital Chamber urged the regulator to defend its charter approvals and continue establishing clear supervisory standards for trust institutions.

Next Steps and Regulatory Compliance

Ripple confirmed it will maintain ongoing collaboration with the OCC, NYDFS, and other federal authorities as Ripple National Trust Bank initiates operations.

The launching of the bank coincides with the ongoing rollout of the U.S. GENIUS Act's broader regulatory framework for stablecoins, positioning Ripple's dual-supervised trust structure at the forefront of evolving federal compliance standards.