Ripple Receives Final OCC Trust Bank Approval
Ripple has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Ripple National Trust Bank, completing a charter process that began with conditional approval in December 2025. The federally supervised institution is intended to support reserve management for Ripple USD, or RLUSD, and provide digital asset custody services for enterprises.
The decision places Ripple among a limited group of crypto-focused companies with national trust bank status. It also gives the company a federally supervised banking platform alongside its existing state-level regulatory framework in New York.
What happened
Decrypt reported that the final OCC approval allows Ripple National Trust Bank to manage RLUSD reserves and offer custody, while banking groups continue to challenge crypto chartering efforts in court. Ripple announced the decision on Monday, according to Trendingtopics.
The OCC had issued Ripple conditional approval in December 2025, according to Trendingtopics, Coinpedia and Lcx. Final approval completes that chartering process and makes the trust bank subject to direct federal supervision in the United States.
Coinpedia reported that the OCC gave its final approval on October 26. Most reports were published on October 27, while Ripple’s announcement was described as occurring on Monday.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the approval represented a model in which crypto and banks operate together under federal oversight. Lcx and Cryptowisser reported that Garlinghouse described the development as bringing “real innovation, real accountability, federal oversight.”
The bank is a specialized national trust bank rather than a conventional retail bank. Kucoin reported that it will hold reserves for RLUSD and manage custody services, while Decrypt characterized its purpose as reserve management and custody.
Why it matters
Federal supervision changes the regulatory setting for the operations attached to RLUSD reserves and Ripple’s enterprise custody business. The charter creates a national platform for those activities, rather than relying solely on state oversight.
That distinction is particularly relevant for stablecoins, whose reserve administration and custody arrangements are central operational functions. Decrypt reported that the new bank will manage RLUSD’s reserves, while the background to the approval states that the charter sits alongside existing New York regulatory oversight.
The approval does not assign a direct role to XRP within the trust bank’s charter, according to BeInCrypto. BeInCrypto said the charter addresses RLUSD reserve management and enterprise digital asset custody, and that XRP holders are furthest from its direct benefits.
The development also adds Ripple to a small but growing group of crypto companies pursuing federal trust-bank status. Coinpedia listed Circle, BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets among other firms with such status. Trendingtopics and Lcx separately reported that Circle had received final OCC approval in July.
Background and context
Ripple’s final approval arrives as the United States implements the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law signed in July 2025. The new charter provides a federally supervised platform for RLUSD reserve management and institutional custody alongside the company’s existing New York state oversight.
Conditional and final approvals have become an important distinction in the sector’s banking push. Conditional approval indicates that a proposed institution has cleared an initial regulatory stage, while final approval completes the chartering process for Ripple National Trust Bank.
Several other firms remain at the conditional stage. Lcx reported that Coinbase received preliminary approval in April, and that Crypto.com and Stripe-owned Bridge received conditional approvals in February. Trendingtopics also listed World Liberty Financial among companies with conditional approvals.
The broader charter landscape remains contested. Decrypt reported that banking groups are fighting crypto charters in court, underscoring that federal banking access for digital asset companies remains a live policy and legal issue.
Reports differ in how they describe the size of RLUSD-related operations. Kucoin referred to $2.5 billion operations, while the Decrypt report’s headline referred to a $2.6B RLUSD stablecoin. Neither description changes the stated functions of the newly approved trust bank, but the figures are not consistent across the reports.
What to watch
A central question is how Ripple National Trust Bank implements its reserve-management and enterprise-custody roles under OCC supervision. The scope of those activities, including the relationship between the federally supervised bank and Ripple’s existing state-regulated arrangements, remains important to follow.
It will also be worth monitoring how the OCC handles pending conditional approvals for other crypto companies, including Coinbase, Crypto.com and Bridge. Their progression would provide further clarity on how widely the national trust bank model is applied across the industry.
Finally, the court challenges involving banking groups, as reported by Decrypt, remain relevant to the wider policy environment. Those disputes may help define the boundaries for crypto companies seeking federal charters.
