Ripple Wins U.S. Charter for a National Trust Bank

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From crypto rebel to federally supervised bank: Ripple, the company behind the cryptocurrency XRP, has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (O.C.C.) to establish Ripple National Trust Bank. The company announced the decision on Monday. The regulator had granted conditional approval in December 2025, and the chartering process is now complete.

What the Ripple Bank Can Do

The charter does not make Ripple a full-service bank. A national trust bank cannot take deposits or make loans, and its accounts are not insured by the F.D.I.C. The approved activities of Ripple National Trust Bank:

• Reserves: The bank manages the segregated reserves backing the stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD).
• Trusteeship: It acts as collateral trustee of those reserves for the benefit of RLUSD holders.
• Custody: Businesses can hold their digital assets with the bank.

RLUSD will continue to be issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, a Ripple subsidiary regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. The new bank adds federal supervision on top. The stablecoin launched in December 2024 and, according to Ripple, has grown to a market capitalization of $2.5 billion (about €2.23 billion). BNY serves as the primary custodian of its reserves.

“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,” said Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s chief executive. “A national trust charter gives us an even stronger foundation for RLUSD and the institutional products we’re building across payments, custody and capital markets.”

Collecting Licenses for the Stablecoin Market

For Ripple, the charter is another piece of a growing license collection. The company says it now holds more than 85 licenses worldwide; over the summer, it added a MiCA license for crypto services in the E.U. In the spring, Ripple also launched a share buyback at a $50 billion valuation.

With the federal charter, RLUSD can meet requirements that stablecoin reserves be held by a regulated custodian. That makes the stablecoin easier to use for banks, asset managers and corporations, especially as the U.S. implements the regulatory framework of the GENIUS Act. The cryptocurrency XRP is not directly affected by the charter. It is currently trading at about $1.30 (roughly €1.16) and, with a market capitalization of about $82 billion (roughly €73 billion), ranks as the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency.

Rivals and Critics

Ripple is not the only crypto company with a U.S. trust bank charter. Circle, the issuer of USDC, received final approval in July, and BitGo in December 2025. Coinbase, Crypto.com and Stripe’s stablecoin company Bridge have received conditional approvals, as has World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture of President Trump’s family.

That wave of approvals has drawn strong opposition from traditional banks and some politicians. The Independent Community Bankers of America (I.C.B.A.) sued the O.C.C. in early October, arguing that the agency lacks the authority to grant such charters to crypto firms. “Congress did not create the national trust charter as a side door into the banking system for crypto firms,” said Rebeca Romero Rainey, the group’s chief executive. In the group’s view, crypto firms gain the credibility of a federal charter without meeting the capital, liquidity and supervision standards that apply to traditional banks. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, has also said the approvals violate the National Bank Act and pose risks to the financial system.

The crypto lobby disagrees. The Digital Chamber argues that trust charters are limited to trust and fiduciary activities and that the firms voluntarily submit to federal supervision. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s chief legal officer, said the company had deliberately chosen to build within the regulatory perimeter.